An Alaskan Anniversary

Chad and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a 10 day trip to Alaska!! We flew into Anchorage and then traveled by plane, train, boat, automobile, raft, dog sled, and kayak. We had 10 great days of amazing adventures. Pictures do not do it justice. It is a place you must see!!

Some of the highlights were landing on a glacier in Denali Park, White water rafting in Denali, a relaxing day at a Nordic Spa, a beautiful resort at Kenai Fjords wilderness lodge, among other things. Oh and I can't forget the last day of the trip on the way to the airport we HIT A MOOSE!!!

FRIDAY, JUNE 16

· Fly from Atlanta to Anchorage

· Take taxi to HOTEL CAPTAIN HOOK

· Eat at Moose Tooth Pizza

We flew from Atlanta to Seattle and then to Anchorage. We began our journey at 4am EST and landed in Anchorage at 2:15pm Alaska Standard time. There is a 4 hour time difference. This time of year it is daylight for almost 24 hours in Alaska. We checked in to the beautiful, historic Captain Cook hotel in downtown Anchorage and then took an uber for Pizza at Moose Tooth ( this was highly recommended by people that have lived in the area). It was very crowded but worth the wait . We also saw the ULA factory while in anchorage. We bought a few gifts here from the locals.

SATURDAY, JUNE 17

· 6:45 AM – ALASKA RAILROAD to SEWARD

· Breakfast on Train

· 11:15 AM – Arrive in SEWARD

· Take Shuttle to KENAI FJORDS LODGE

· Check in at Lodge/ Eat and explore area

We had an early morning train departure from Anchorage. 5:30am. We rode the Alaskan Railroad domed train from Anchorage to Seward. We chose the GOLD STAR service that included breakfast in the dining car and glassed domed seated area on the car. We saw tons of wild life and beautiful fox scenery on the 4 hour trip. Moose, Eagles, and rock sheep were all out enjoying the day. We rode by glaciers, lakes, rivers, and marsh.

Arrived in Seward to get on the boat to take us over to Kenai Fjords wilderness lodge. We cruised through Resurrection Bay and saw otters, puffins, Eagles, and more glaciers. This area is called Resurrection Bay because it was discovered on an Easter Sunday and the closest translation to Easter in the native language is Resurrection.

SUNDAY, JUNE 18

· 8am Breakfast at Lodge

· Lunch and Dinner at Lodge

· 8:30pm Kayak tour ( 3 hours)

FOX ISLAND Of all the locations we visited this was our favorite. The wilderness lodge on Fox Island is a destination in itself. They have a beautiful main lodge for dining and relaxing then individual cabins throughout the island for guests. Only about 20 guests are there at one time. There is a 5 star chef that cooks all meals and snacks daily. Chef Jake was amazing. The staff are personally assigned to each guest and take care of your every need. The beach is made of black smooth stones. There is a sauna that they will heat just for you and a fire pit that they ready each night for smores. We went from the Sauna to the 40 degree Pacific Ocean water one day. The dining area looked out over the ocean. We saw whales at play every morning over breakfast. We took a private guided kayak tour at 10pm one night ( 2am Ga. time). We hiked to the top of Fox Island mountain which was very strenuous but so worth it for the view. The hike was equal to 43 flights of stairs. Fox Island was the perfect start to our trip.

We highly recommend this location!!!

MONDAY, JUNE 19

· 8am Breakfast at Lodge

· 8:30 am Boat tour back to Seward/ Lunch on boat

· 4:30 pm Arrive in Seward

· Pick up Rental Car in Seward

· Hike Exit Glacier (?)

· Dinner in Seward

· Drive to GIRDWOOD Check in at ALYESAK SPA

NORTHWESTERN GLACIER BOAT TOUR

We left Fox Island to go back to Seward via a boat tour of the Northwestern glacier area. It was 6 hours long!!!! We were able to see all types of wildlife and sea life. Orca Whales and humpback whales were out nearby the boat. There were tons of sea lions and their pups resting on rocks and playing in the water. We saw the Northwestern glacier and heard the sound the glacier makes when "calving" ( ice falling from glacier to water). It sounds like a loud gunshot. Dolphins were playing all around the boat. We saw "Alaskan penguins" and beautiful water falls.

We arrived back in Seward and got our rental car. We got a complimentary upgrade to larger SUV. Which will be very important on our last day!!! We ate dinner at RED's. The locals recommended it. It is in an old school bus. Great burgers!!!

TUESDAY, JUNE 20

· Breakfast at Resort or in Girdwood

· Spa day at Resort/ Lunch at Spa

· Dinner at Resort or Girdwood/ Explore Girdwood

· Check time for Denali Tundra Tour

GIRDWOOD/ALYESKA

We drove from Seward to Girdwood to the Alyeska Resort and Nordic Spa. This is where we spent our actual anniversary day on June 20. The resort is beautiful. They upgraded us to one of the newly remodeled suites!!! We spent took the tram to the top of the mountain and were able to see Denali. We spent the day on June 20 in the Nordic spa Hydrotherapy pools and Sauna and got massages. The Nordic spa did not allow phones or cameras. It is an outdoor spa in a rainforest like atmosphere with different temperatures of hot and cold pools and several different types of saunas and steam rooms. For full health benefits you are suppose to spend a certain amount of time in each one and do a cycle of at least 4 times through. We did that and more.

We drove into Girdwood and found great pizza and Ice cream for dinner ( if you have noticed we try to find Pizza and ice cream in every town!!). The following morning we had breakfast at the Bake Shop. They are known for their sourdough pancakes. They were delicious!!!

We highly recommend Alyeska!!!

Wednesday, June 21

· Drive to Denali

· Stops along the way

· Check in to DENALI GRAND LODGE

· 6pm – WHITE WATER RAFTING

THURSDAY, JUNE 22

· DENALI PARK TUNDRA BUS TOUR

· Explore town of Denali

DENALI

This was our longest drive of the trip. We drove from Girdwood to Denali. It is about a 5 hour drive. We stopped off in Palmer at the Reindeer farm. Very cute family run operation. We also took a quick stop back in Anchorage and then continued to Denali. We say lots of wildlife along the way. We stayed at the Denali Lodge. We enjoyed white water rafting and seeing the mountains from a different view. Chad and I were the only 2 people in our boat who had ever rafted before. The other 3 were older ladies who basically were just along for the ride. Our guide was a tough cookie of a girl from the Appalachia foothills of Tennessee. About half way down the rapids she came down really hard and hit her chin. I looked back and she was bleeding profusely. Chad and I kept paddling through the rapids to try to keep the boat on course. She was working to be able to pull over when possible. It took about 15mins. before we could pull up. I got out of the boat on the rocks to pull it in so it would not float down with the other ladies in it. Chad got out to help the guide with the med kit. Another boat in front of us had a DR. on board thankfully. He was able to come over and get her bandaged. Chad was helping hold bandages and was basically being the nurse to help get her bandaged up and get us back to land. We still had a long way to go on the rapids and she had to get us through them. We finally made it back all safe and sound. Our guide had to have 8 stiches under her chin area.

The views from the water of Denali are amazing. The next morning we hiked another step trail into town and back. We had Reindeer hot dogs for lunch. We took a bus tour through Denali National Park. Another long 6 hour tour but a must do. Again we saw tons of wildlife and were lucky enough for it to be a clear day so we go to the Mt. Denali ( it is normally not fully visible). Less than 30% of visitors actually get to view the mountain.

FRIDAY, JUNE 23

· Drive to Talkeetna

· Check in at TALKEETNA ALASKAN LODGE

· 6:30 pm HELICOPTER/ GLACIER

TALKEETNA

We loved the authentic Alaskan town of Talkeetna. It looked just like we were on the set of the Virgin River show. We stayed at the Talkeetna lodge that overlooked Mt. Denali. Beautiful views. Downtown Talkeetna has great ice cream at Shirley's Ice cream!!

We took a glacier flight from K2 Aviation. The day had been very cloudy and none of the flights before us were able to land on the glacier. Thankfully it cleared up that afternoon and we were able to land and walk on the glacier. It felt like something out of a movie. The views and colors were indescribable. Glacier Blue is now my favorite color!!

SATURDAY, JUNE 24

· Explore Talkeetna ( hike, bike the town area)

· Dog sled 1pm- 3pm ( 45 min. drive from Talk)

IDITAROD Dog Sleds

We visited Willow Alaska on our last day. This is the start of the Iditarod race. Chad nor I are "dog people" but we are sports people so we could not miss this iconic place. The owner and trainer was Justin Savidis. He is a 7 time Iditarod competitor. We were able to interact with the dogs and puppies and take an ATV ride with the dogs pulling for part of their training. It was very interesting and very much ALASKA!!!

Back to Talkeetna for our final night. Elk and Bison burgers for dinner. Breakfast was at Road House bakery and Conscious coffee in Talkeetna.

SUNDAY, JUNE 25

· Drive to Anchorage airport

· Delta 977 and Delta 949 From Anchorage to Atlanta June 25

· Fly out 8:00 am Layover in Seattle

· Arrive in Atlanta 12:00am

The last day of our trip we were up at 2:45am to drive to the Anchorage airport. The drive was going well until we HIT A MOOSE!!! We were driving along the highway and Chad screamed MOOSE and then I heard a loud thud on my side of the car. We were not hurt and we do not think the moose was hurt he kept running across the road. Moose are like deer in Ga. They are everywhere on the roads. There are signs on the roadways. We saw one sign a few days before that said 359 moose had been hit on Alaska highways this year. Well we make 360!! I want to be on that sign!! The car was drivable so we continued on to the airport and dropped it in the express drop with a note to please call us regarding the damage from hitting a moose. No one ever called us. I guess it is a normal occurrence there. Our flight was delayed by almost 4 hours. So that meant we missed our connecting flight in Seattle. We stayed in Seattle almost 5 hours to get a new flight home to Atlanta. So, instead of arriving in Atlanta at 12 midnight on Sunday we did not arrive until 5am on Monday morning. Thankfully my mom came to the rescue and met us at the airport in Atlanta to drive us home. Other than this last day of events our trip went exactly as planned.

We are thankful that God kept us safe through it all!!!