ALASKA ADVENTURE 2024: Wrap-Up and Reflections

At approximately the midpoint of our Alaska Adventure, during our last night aboard the Royal Princess among the many glaciers of College Fjord.

I know what you're thinking. Just how much ice cream did Jon eat on this trip?

A lot, my friends. A lot.

But fortunately - and unbelievably - the scale revealed that I actually lost two pounds in Alaska rather than gain fifteen like I had feared.

So, what did we learn from our time in Alaska?

In no particular order:

Going forward, I'm going to minimize my flying as much as possible. Some of our flights were miserable.

I told a few folks before this trip that I was curious how I would like a trip planned by others versus the kind that I plan for myself. On the whole, I prefer doing it myself. For one thing, flexibility is important. Perhaps destinations could have been re-arranged and Denali salvaged had I been in the driver's seat. 

Vastness. Probably the most striking thing about Alaska is the sheer scale and scope of its land. There's a lot of it. It was amazing to come across mountain range after mountain range, large river after large river, lake after lake in our travels. There is a lot of wide open space up north. And we only saw a piece of it.

Correspondingly, there was a shocking lack of wildlife. One of our main reasons for traveling to Alaska was to have encounters with wildlife. Certainly missing out on Denali had an impact. But even taking that off the table, I was expecting to see more animals. We did get to see three moose and one bear, many bald eagles, some sea otters and seals, and a wonderful group of whales on our whale-watching tour. I think we saw more than many others on our voyage. We overheard (more than once) a reference to Jurassic Park: "Do you have any dinosaurs in your dinosaur park?" Perhaps things would have been different if our trip had been shifted slightly later in the summer when the salmon were more active.

Our tour was called "Off the Beaten Path," and I did enjoy exploring some parts of Alaska that are not widely visited. Seeing Copper River, Valdez, and Fairbanks was a treat.

The weather, especially while we were on the ship, was surprisingly cool and wet. The interior was warmer and drier and about what I expected. Debbie is fond of saying that one thing she learned on this trip is that Alaska's coastal region is a rain forest, temperate not tropical. We had lots of precipitation.

I've been asked which portion of the tour I enjoyed more - the cruise or land? That's a tough question. I think the cruise has the edge with the wildlife that we did see, the meals and entertainment, and the shore excursions. 

One decision that I really wrestled with in booking the trip was the question of a balcony. An unobstructed balcony for the week added approximately $3,000 to the cost to the trip. Researching the issue showed that most people strongly recommended getting the balcony. In retrospect, I'm certainly glad that we had it, and it did enhance our experience. But, in the final analysis, I would have to say that was a corner we could have cut. There are other areas on the ship suitable for watching the glaciers on those special days. But it's a fairly close call.

Towards the end of our trip, I began wondering if I would need to venture up to this land again, to return to Alaska someday. While there is certainly more to see, and I would always love to visit additional National Parks, including those in remote regions, I do feel like we did Alaska well in the thirteen days we had there. I think we're good.

Finally, I once again feel drawn to give glory to God for His amazing creation. Witnessing the interaction of land (mountains and glaciers and coast) and life (migrating humpbacks and spawning salmon and hibernating bears) testifies to God's incredible, intricate design. Voyaging to new lands always brings home to me to a deeper appreciation and wonder of God, and I think that's the way it is supposed to be.

ALASKA ADVENTURE 2024: One Last Adventure - July 11

After arriving by train in Anchorage, we boarded a brief but unpleasant bus transfer. Debbie and I had to take the only remaining seats in the very back where a piercing alarm kept going off. Even though it was the shortest ride of the trip, it was one of the most uncomfortable! However, we soon arrived at our lodging for the night, the Hotel Captain Cook.

The Captain Cook is one of those huge, fancy, old-timey hotels in the heart of downtown that provide a lot of services like gift shops, restaurants, and bars. It contained a lot of politically-incorrect artwork featuring Captain Cook and his travels. There was a strong 70's vibe in the decor and the hotel's evocative aroma reminded me of the Cathedral Buffet of my childhood in Cuyahoga Falls. 

We were pleased to find that once again we had been given a larger room than we expected. Because we weren't hungry after our late lunch on the train, we decided to head out on foot and explore the city of Anchorage. We walked to a waterfront city park only a few blocks away.

Captain Cook is a big deal in this town. He visited Anchorage's inlet on his final voyage.

When the tide is out, a large mud flat is left along the banks of the inlet.

We took a walking trail along the shore that we judged from the map would be about a mile. It turned out to be much more than that by the time we made our way back to the hotel. Debbie began to get very nervous as our walk became longer and longer, especially with the multitude of homeless tents we came across.

By the time we made it back to the Captain Cook, we were hungry. We scouted out nearby locations to eat and found an ice cream place called Wild Scoops. It was at an outdoor venue where a concert was playing and games like cornhole taking place. Was a nice end to the day and our trip as our last adventure!

The next morning, Friday, we got up, ate breakfast in the hotel's coffee shop, and boarded the bus for the trip to the Anchorage airport. The flight home to Ohio was A LOT less eventful than the first part of our journey had been. Despite a couple of long flights, including one overnight from Seattle to Detroit, we made it safely back to Cleveland on Saturday morning and then returned home by Noon. After that, it was time for a well-deserved nap!

ALASKA ADVENTURE 2024: The 2:15 to Anchorage - July 11

On Thursday morning, we had to check out of our suite, but we still found time to do a few fun things around the Lodge. We enjoyed a buffet breakfast at the 20320 Alaskan Grill. We attended the naturalist's educational presentation on bears. We caught some of the movie "Over Alaska" playing continuously in the hotel's meeting room. We caught a few more glimpses of cloud-covered Denali. Finally it was time to begin our long journey home. 

We caught the 1:00 bus shuttle to Talkeetna where we would board the train to Anchorage.

The Talkeetna Depot.

Our train pulling into the station.

The train ride was a lot of fun. Our car was obviously built for its passengers to be able to enjoy the scenery. As soon as we boarded, we were asked if we would like to eat lunch in the car's restaurant. We said yes - only about 7 of the passengers did so - and we were escorted to the car's lower level. It was fun to dine on a train. We shared our table with a couple of Alaskan residents who were just taking a few days to ride the train up to Fairbanks and back. They live south of Anchorage near the Kenai peninsula. It was very educational to hear of their experiences with winters, bears, and moose!

After lunch we returned topside to enjoy the incredible scenery of streams and mountains and forests as we hurtled through the wilderness.We saw the towns of Wasilla and Palmer and Anchorage. It was a great way to begin bringing our Alaskan adventure to a close.

The train also had an open-air observational platform that we spent some time on as we approached Anchorage.

 

ALASKA ADVENTURE 2024: Talkeetna - July 10

During our time to be at the Mt. McKinley Lodge, we had booked an excursion for an afternoon river raft trip. We boarded the shuttle bus at the hotel at 1 p.m. Wednesday for the 1 hour ride to Talkeetna.

Our guide, Audrey, did a great job getting us loaded into the raft and taking us down the river. We shared a raft with a family from the Chicago area. Jon's job was to count planes that flew overhead. There were well over twelve during our time on the river.

Debbie getting ready for our raft float trip on the Talkeetna River.

It was a beautiful day!

We didn't find any wildlife, but we did get to see a beaver's dam.

After our rafting trip, we explored the quirky town of Talkeetna. Some say it bears a strong resemblance to the Alaskan town of Cicely featured on the 90's show, Northern Exposure. Along Main Street, there were lots of curious buildings and shops, such as the ones pictured below.

 

Jon trying out the local specialty, Fireweed Ice Cream.

ALASKA ADVENTURE 2024: Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge - July 10

Our first view of Mt. McKinley - I mean, Denali.

One surprise about Denali National Park is that you can't really see the mountain from that immediate area. The best views of Denali actually come when you're at a distance to it. As we took our bus ride to the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, Denali came into view as a white-capped mountain surrounded by other, darker, mountains. it occurred to me that, just like the Grand Canyon appears as a canyon of canyons, Denali looms as a mountain among mountains!

We loved our time at Mt. McKinley Lodge! We wished we had more than one night to spend there. Perhaps part of that feeling is because we were upgraded to a suite(!) (I think someone may have been feeling bad about our poor experience at Denali.) But even beyond that, the hotel had a rugged charm to it of the classic "western lodges" that you associate with National Parks. Even though we never quite got an unobscured view of Denali (most visitors don't), there were a lot of nice touches to being here.

I asked at the front desk and was told that these are indeed authentic antlers on the doors.

We ate a couple of our meals at the main restaurant, 20320 Alaskan Grill, named in honor of the elevation of the mountain.

We were surprised to find this sign outside our room!

The suite was great, and our time at the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge was a lot of fun!

ALASKA ADVENTURE 2024: Denali Disappointment - July 8 & 9 & 10

We arrived at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge around 6:15 p.m. Monday for our 2-night stay. Tuesday was supposed to be our day to spend in the National Park and enjoy a guided tour. But due to the wildfire of June 30, the Park was still closed - scheduled to be reopened Wednesday morning, July 10. Even a nearby trail that leads to the Park remained off-limits. Of course, we were not the only ones affected. The hotel had reopened on Saturday, but there was not much for the guests to do. Walking through the common area to our room, we saw a lot of depressed-looking people. Many were drinking. It was like a Lobby of Sadness. What was the mood like? This scene from Home Alone 2 captures it pretty well:

Our suitcases, which had come with us on our motor coach, would appear in our room later that evening, we were told. Debbie and I ate at one of the restaurants at the Lodge, and then went to talk with the front desk about our options for Tuesday. It was as we feared. The Park was completely closed. We could still book a nearby excursion of a mountain hike for $130 per person, but the hike sounded both too challenging for us and too expensive. There were few other options. Bummed, we explored the strip called "Glitter Gulch" which is a row of gift stores and snack shops across the road from the Lodge.

Going to our room for the night, we discovered another disappointment. Instead of a queen or king bed, we had been given two double beds. Debbie was not happy. Neither was I. Also, our bags still had not made their appearance. I decided to track their location with the AirTag in my suitcase. I could tell the bags were close, in our building. I went exploring and saw lots of suitcases outside of rooms, but ours were not visible. At about 9 p.m. Debbie called the front desk to find out what was going on. She was told that our room assignment had been changed from what it had been supposed to be originally, but that the baggage people had been working from the old list. Our suitcases had been taken to the wrong room. Not a comforting thought. A little while later, Debbie got a call from someone a few doors down from us. They had just returned and found our suitcases and ID tags in their room, so at least we were reunited with our luggage! (Not everyone on our tour group was as lucky - we later heard some luggage was lost.)

We took the occasion to sleep in the next day since there really wasn't anything for us to do. We noticed at breakfast that the hotel seemed really crowded. This made sense as things had been designed for people to be in Denali National Park, not the hotel, during the day. As we sat around the Lodge, I realized that we were now the sad people we had seen in the lobby the day before! 

To give you an example of the overcrowdedness, we waited in line for a half hour for our Subway lunch. They were out of white bread.

The view from the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge.

These pink flowers along the Nenana River are called Fireweed. We saw them all throughout Alaska.

The scorched trees on this nearby hillside were from the fire a week and a half earlier. Even though our time at Denali was a bummer, I'm glad we weren't there for the fire!

We heard that the shuttle bus to the National Park would be running bright and early on Wednesday morning. Our transport to our next lodge was scheduled to depart at 10:00 a.m. Was it worth trying to at least get into the park? On Wednesday, we woke up early enough to try it. We caught the shuttle at 7:30 and reached the park in time for the opening of the visitor center at 8. Debbie got our park passport book stamped, we watched the park movie on Denali, flew through the visitor center and took a very short trail around the area. We caught the return shuttle at 8:50 to make it back for breakfast and our next motor coach ride. We were at Denali National Park very briefly, but we did make it!

  

 

ALASKA ADVENTURE 2024: On the Road to Denali - July 8

We knew Monday would be a loooong day of travel by motor coach. We enjoyed an early buffet breakfast at the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, where we learned that our server's interesting accent was Bulgarian (I had thought French Canadian), and then boarded the bus. Today's journey would take us on an approximately 10-hour trek northwest to Fairbanks and then back south to Denali National Park. Fortunately, our tour guide/driver Wendy knew some good stops along the way to break up the trip.

Jon and Debbie at the base of the Painted Mountains.

We enjoyed lunch outdoors at the Big Delta Brewing Co. near Delta Junction, AK.

Delta Junction is at the westernmost end of the Alaska-Canadian Highway.

Further north, we actually stopped at the North Pole!

The theme of the town is red-and-white stripes, even on their lamp posts and McDonald's signs. 

And what would a visit to the North Pole be without a stop at Santa Claus House?

Debbie enjoyed the fun of a visit to Santa's House.

O Christmas Tree!

A very big Santa Claus statue (We heard it used to be Paul Bunyan and was imported by truck from Wisconsin.) 

It seemed only appropriate for Jon to take the occasion of a visit to the North Pole to get some Moose Tracks Ice Cream.

Our souvenir Christmas ornament will help us always remember our visit to the North Pole!

This pin represents the farthest north we have ever been in our lives at Fairbanks, Alaska.

We saw our first moose of the trip near the end of today's long journey!

As we arrived at our destination at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, we were finally facing the moment of truth - Would there be anything for us to do with the National Park still closed? How near could we get? What would the next 36 hours looks like?

ALASKA ADVENTURE 2024: The Pipeline

When we boarded our motor coach in Valdez, we began hearing about the Alaskan Pipeline. This was something that I knew existed, but I really didn't know much about it. Wendy, our driver/guide, played a video documentary during our bus ride that told the fascinating story of how the Alaskan Pipeline came to be, and the engineering marvels that were required for it to be constructed through some very hostile terrain. It wasn't long before we began glimpsing the Pipeline, which would be our companion along the highway all the way from Valdez to Fairbanks, where it would continue, but we would turn south.

On Sunday afternoon, we took a shuttle from our hotel to a place where we could get up close and personal to the Pipeline and learn more about it via some educational billboards.  

The size of the Pipeline is certainly impressive. Here's Debbie for scale!