Kapitall

My husband and I just completed a 15 day driving trip in Alaska and loved every minute! I decided to write a detailed trip report as it took a lot of research to plan a trip not involving a cruise ship. Personally, I thought it was great and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. I gathered many of the highlights other travelers had enjoyed and incorporated them into a trip tailored to our tastes. So, here goes:

Day 1: (June 14, 2017) We arrived in Anchorage via Alaska Airlines around 2 pm and took a taxi to Enterprise Rental Car, Downtown, to pick up our Nissan Altima. I wanted something small for the 2 of us to save on gas and this car filled the bill. I also used the Downtown Enterprise to cut costs as they charge less than an airport pick up. They couldn’t have been nicer, or more helpful. They don’t provide an airport shuttle, but did help us out in ordering a cab for our trip back to the airport.
We took off for our first stop, Girdwood, enjoying a beautiful drive to our Bed and Breakfast, the Carriage House. It’s located in a scenic area surrounded by mountains and trees. The room was pretty basic, with an attached bathroom, but very clean and comfortable. The included breakfast each morning, on the other hand, was outstanding. The owner really went out of her way in making a gourmet breakfast each morning. We met other travelers at breakfast and thoroughly enjoyed our two night stay. We decided to head out on our first evening to the Alyska Resort, just up the road. We took the tram up to the top of the ski lift, where we enjoyed our first panoramic view of the area – gorgeous!
Day 2: In the morning, we headed off to Whittier for the Blackstone Glacier Tour in Prince William Sound. We caught the 10:30 am opening of the Whittier, Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. That was an interesting trek in itself. We had a beautiful day with blue skies and puffy clouds for our half day cruise. The cruise itself was smooth sailing. We saw our first bald eagle, otters, and harbor seals. This was our first view of glaciers and we enjoyed the day very much. We headed back to Girdwood, after exploring the very tiny town of Whittier, for dinner at the Double Musky, which is just across the road from our B&B – fun place, nice dinner, good service.
Day 3: After another amazing breakfast by our host, we headed to Seward. What a beautiful drive! We marveled at the miles and miles of yellow wildflowers, only to find out they were dandelions! Oh well, they still looked amazing with the green, snow capped mountains and blue skies. We stopped at the Exit Glacier along the way and had an easy hike up to some of the view points, gorgeous! We then moved on to Seward. We had a late lunch at the Seward Brewery. I had to try a Reindeer Dog, which was good, but the raspberry wheat beer was better, very yummy after our hike and drive. We explored town and then headed to our cabin, where we would spend two nights – Abode Well Cabins. Super cute cabin, well laid out, with nice decor and tucked into the woods. It really has everything you need, a clean bathroom, microwave, fridge, coffee maker and great WiFi. We stopped at a market in town and picked up some groceries to save a few $.
Day 4: The next morning we were up early to catch our Kenai Fjord, Northwestern fjord, full day tour. Breakfast, lunch and snack were included in this fantastic boat tour. The morning was a little overcast, but it burned off into a beautiful day. It was cold outside of the cabin, but we wore layers, hat and gloves and were fine. The water was pretty calm, no one was sick on our trip. We took ginger pills before the trip and wore Sea Band, anti motion sickness wrist bands, just in case, as my husband has a tendency to get sea sick. What a great trip! We both enjoyed it even more than the Blackstone Cruise, which was a lot of fun. The crew was fantastic and the glaciers were amazing. We saw lots of wildlife, many whales, seals, puffins, and otters. The glacier was amazing and it was all just so beautiful. This was a much longer day cruise, not too long, just a great experience. Loved it! Went back to our cabin and slept great.
Day 5: We checked out of our super nice cabin and headed off to Homer. I had mentioned that I wanted to see salmon swimming upstream at Abode Well and they had suggested we stop at the Bear Lake Weir, as it was on our way. We decided to do this and I was so glad we did. It’s a small, fish ladder, no big deal, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching the salmon jump up out of the water to get upstream. It was a quick jaunt off the road, but something I had never seen before – amazing! So many salmon!
It was another beautiful day for a drive as we headed to Homer. We stopped at the Sunrise Inn Restaurant, in Cooper Landing, for a very delicious breakfast. What a beautiful part of the world! We saw several moose along the road, very exciting. We arrived in Homer, parked and walked along the Homer Spit shops and along the beach to Lands End – gorgeous! We had delicious gelato from Carmen’s Gelato and then drove the very scenic, East to West Hill road, for spectacular views along Skyline Drive. We saw another bald eagle scouting for prey, very nice. We then went to check in to our room at the Old Town Bed and Breakfast and found an outdoor block party in progress, with live music, food, and lots of people. It looked like a lot of fun and ended fairly early. We decided to walk over to Fat Olives for dinner, which was very delicious and then down to the beach, where we walked along the Beluga Slough Trail, for a most enjoyable evening. Back at our room, the spectacular view from our window greeted us as we appreciated the room decor with beautiful quilts and private bath – loved it all!
Day 6: The next morning was our longest distance in drive miles, so we decided to get going fairly early, but not before a most excellent breakfast. We had been given a voucher from the B&B on our arrival for the Wild Honey Cafe. We enjoyed excellent crepes before embarking on our drive. It was a beautiful day and we had an easy day of it. Just out of Homer we came upon a moose that had been hit along the side of the road – very sad, but a good reminder to keep our eyes on the road for wildlife. As we got closer to our destination, Glacier View, and higher into the mountains, it started to cloud up, but we still had some amazing vistas. We arrived at the Homestead Guest Cabins in the evening and found the hand built log cabin to be as warm and inviting as our host. She was gracious enough to invite us up to see the view from her front porch, which was truly spectacular. Their log home, as well as the smaller cabins, had been built by her husband and the detail was incredible. That night it rained, but we couldn’t have been snugger in our adorable cabin. We had ordered muffins and juice, for a small fee, prior to arrival and they were waiting for us at check in. The cabin had a full kitchen and bathroom and we were able to watch a movie on Alaska on the provided DVD player. All in all, a great stop for the night and very close to our next adventure.
Day 7: We got up early, ate our muffins and juice and then were off to MICA Ice Fall Trek, a short 15 minute drive away. We had such a great time on this glacier trek! Our guide, Axel, couldn’t have been nicer and saw to it that we were safe and had a great time. I was worried I would slip, but after Axel gave us some guidance on how to walk with the provided crampons, we were soon trekking confidently on the ice. They provided the crampons, helmets, backpack for hands free trekking, and even boots. I didn’t have ankle boots, so I wore a pair they provided, which kept my own nice and clean. I was never cold, but I had a fleece jacket on under my rain jacket. It was a lot of fun and a very unique experience. We met up at 8:30 and were back at lunch time. We had another couple in our group of 4 and I was grateful that we had a guide who obviously knew, and enjoyed, what he did. It was an overcast, drizzly day, which brought out the blue in the ice, so it worked out for us. After our trek we headed to The Lone Rifle Lodge restaurant and had lunch with a spectacular view of the glacier from the window.
From here we headed out to the old, Independence Mine at Hatcher Pass. It was overcast and cloudy up at the top, but none the less a very pretty drive. I’m sure in excellent weather it is amazing. The cloudy mist gave the old mine a great look of abandonment. We did a self guided walk, admiring the views as the clouds lifted.
We then moved on to our stop for the night, the Talkeetna Roadhouse. We checked in to a cute, rustic, very creaky room up some very creaky stairs, with a shared bathroom. We never saw any other guests, so it worked out fine, but the creaky floor could be a problem for light sleepers. We liked the “shabby chic”, rustic atmosphere of the Roadhouse, but I’m sure it’s not for everyone. We walked around Talkeetna and had dinner at the Denali Brewing Co, which was absolutely our favorite meal! Highly recommend. The Roadhouse quieted down at 10 pm and we slept well.
Day 8: Thankfully, the sun was shining as we had reserved a Denali glacier landing flight with Talkeetna Air Taxi. The day was perfect for our 8:30 am flight. We bought some quiche at the Roadhouse bakery and a strawberry rhubarb tart, neither of which were especially good, for breakfast. We checked in at the airport and they had us cover our shoes with provided Glacier Boots and even had sunglasses for those that needed them. We had a group of 10 on our flight and the pilot made sure everyone had a great view. This was a most amazing experience. I had never been on a small plane before. It was so incredible to have such a fantastic view of Denali and to get the opportunity to land and walk on the glacier – loved it! We were so lucky to have such great weather and to see Denali up close and personal.
After our flight we checked out the very nice Talkeetna Ranger Station and had lunch in a lovely park in town with some bakery items we had picked up. We then decided to move on to our next stop, Denali National Park. This was a beautiful drive as it was a clear day and Denali was fully visible, making for way too many photos. Once we arrived at Denali NP we headed to the Wilderness Access Center and picked up the tickets I had ordered for the shuttle into the park the next day. We looked around a bit at the Visitor Center and then went to find our cabin for the next 3 nights.
We found Carlo Creek Lodge Cabins without any difficulty and checked in to our very rustic, but cute cabin. The location was great, about 15 minutes from Denali NP, in a beautiful wooded area next to a creek. The WiFi was very spotty in cabin #5, but ultimately did work. There is also only 1 outlet in the cabin, which is not in the bathroom. This was the most affordable lodging I found near Denali, just don’t expect a luxury resort. The cabin did have a mini fridge, microwave and bathroom, so life was good. Behind our cabin we could hear the babbling of Carlo Creek, where we found two Adirondack chairs provided. This was a beautiful spot to sit and read in the evenings, which we enjoyed very much. We slept soundly in our cabin in the woods.
Across the highway from our cabin was the McKinley Creekside Cafe. We had breakfast there every morning and they were all delicious! They opened early, had great food and great service. The strawberry rhubarb jam was incredible, the caramel pecan rolls divine, the skillet breakfast was delicious…I could go on and on. It is worth crossing the road for the great start to the morning. After breakfast we headed to our 8:30 am shuttle into Denali, to the Eielson Visitor Center. We had bought a Subway sandwich the night before to take on our trip and looked forward to this adventure. As we waited for the bus, a moose walked up to the loading area and meandered around for a bit. I had high hopes of seeing lots of bears on our bus trip. The driver was a young guy who had only been in Denali for a few weeks. I was sorry we didn’t get a driver who was more experienced or interested in making the trip fun for the passengers. We did see wildlife and the views were amazing: some grizzly bears fairly far off, a few caribou by the road, several moose up close with their babies and infinitesimally small dall sheep on the hillside. When we arrived at Eielson the Ranger programs were cancelled for the day, and the trails closed, due to grizzly bears in the vicinity, so we really didn’t spend much time there. I’m glad we did the shuttle for the incredible scenery, but it I was hoping for a closer view of a bear or two. I considered doing a second shuttle day into the park, but the weather wasn’t as good the next day and we might have gotten the same driver!
Day 9: So, instead of taking the shuttle again, we went river rafting. Now this was incredibly fun! We used Denali Raft Adventure and it was the best! I can’t recommend this enough! I opted to do the Healy Express Run, which is two parts. The first section is the McKinley Run, which is smooth and scenic; the second half is the white water Canyon Run. We chose a paddle raft, which we both loved. If I only had time for one, I would definitely do the white water Canyon Run, it is so much fun! I am 58, my husband is 63 and we had never been rafting before. Our guide was great, showed us what to do and made sure we knew all the safety features. I would highly recommend this adventure that you won’t forget. Afterward, we headed back into Denali NP and hiked up to the dog kennels for a Ranger program. The trail was very nice, but when we turned into a curve, we came almost eye to eye with a very large moose. It was munching on leaves, so we quietly kept walking. The Ranger who spoke wasn’t great, but the dogs made it worthwhile. We then headed to Healy for dinner at the 49th State Brewery, which we enjoyed with the local beer.
Day 10: We decided to take our time the next morning driving back down out of Denali towards Anchorage. We stopped at the Musk Ox Farm and Reindeer Farm, both near Palmer, and had lunch at the Palmer Ale House with delicious local beer. It was a nice day for a drive with some rain early, then clearing to blue skies. We headed over to Wasilla and spent the night at the Lake Lucille, Best Western. It is right on the lake with gorgeous views and includes a nice breakfast.
Day 11: Sunday morning we left Wasill and in less than an hour we were back in Anchorage. We headed straight for the Anchorage Open Air Market and Festival, which opened at 10 am. Fortunately, we found free street parking, and enjoyed the booths and foods that were offered. We bought a few things and then walked around downtown, where the shops are all open on Sunday, followed by a lovely stroll along some of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. We had to turn our rental car in by 4 pm, so we had lunch at the very yummy Snow City Cafe, had the incredibly dirty car washed, returned it to Enterprise Downtown without a problem, took a taxi to the airport and caught our 7:30 pm flight to Juneau.
We arrived in Juneau around 9 pm and called for the free airport shuttle offered by our hotel, Grandma’s Feather Bed. What a cute hotel! It is a small hotel, but just lovely. The building is so cute, the room was beautiful and the breakfast room was very nice as well. I would certainly stay again. We had to get up early the next morning, as we had to be at the ferry Terminal at 6 am, so we settled in for the night.
Day 12: Thankfully, the hotel offered a continental breakfast starting at 5 am. We had a quick breakfast and took a cab to the Alaska Marine Ferry Terminal, where we caught the 7 am ferry to Gustavus. It was an overcast, cool day, but inside the main cabin was warm, with comfortable chairs, clean bathrooms and food available. The ferry ride was a very nice way to travel and I would do it again to get to some of the more remote towns. It took a little over 4 hours to reach Gustavus, where a shuttle bus met us and drove us the 11 miles to Glacier Bay National Park Lodge.
We arrived around lunch time and a Ranger led program was leaving at 1 pm for a hike in the area. We stored our luggage at the lodge, as it was too early for check in, and joined the hike, led by a very nice, funny, informative Park Ranger. When we got back we had a late lunch in the Lodge dining room and then checked into our room. Our room was clean and comfortable, with a somewhat dated bathroom, but lovely view of the forest out the large window. It was very private feeling and blended well with the surroundings. We explored the Bartlett Cove beach and tide pools outside of the Lodge, where we found huge starfish at low tide. In the evening we walked to the Huna Tribal House, which is close by, and attended a program given by a member of the Huna Tlingit Clan. Not a great speaker, but an interesting program.
Day 13: In the morning we met at the dock to take the Glacier Bay Tour Boat for a full day tour of the Inside Passage and Margery Glacier. This was a great trip. It was an overcast morning, with some clearing into blue skies, but it was cold on the boat deck. We wore hats, gloves and several layers. We saw lots and lots of wildlife. There were grizzly bears turning over rocks on the water edge, eagles flying, whales spouting, seals and otters lounging - fantastic! We also saw a large chunk of the glacier calve with a loud roar and splash -spectacular! We enjoyed this trip very much. The crew was great and food was provided.
When we returned we had dinner at the lodge dining room, which was actually pretty terrible. The steak was very much reminiscent of shoe leather, oh well, we didn’t come for the food. After dinner we went to an interesting Ranger lecture on the wilderness that we enjoyed.
Day 14: The next morning the Lodge shuttle took us back to the Gustavus airport where we took an Alaska Sea Planes air taxi back to Juneau. This flight only took about 20 minutes and had seats for 6 passengers. We had pretty amazing views of Juneau and the Mendenhall glacier coming back into the Juneau airport. We were staying at Grandma’s Feather Bed again, so we called their shuttle and they picked us up at the airport and we stored our luggage for the day at their luggage storage locker. We then took a taxi up to Mendenhall Glacier and hiked up to the waterfall and Visitor Center while enjoying views of the glacier. When we were ready to leave we called the same taxi and had them drop us off in old town Juneau. We had lunch on the water front, shopped, visited the Sealaska Heritage Institute and enjoyed the sites. The clouds burned off leaving us with a beautiful day for exploring. We had the hotel shuttle pick us up from downtown and went back to Grandma’s Feather Bed for our last night.
Day 15: We were up early and had another quick continental breakfast, which was actually very nice, fresh fruit, muffins, cereal, yogurt, coffee, juices. From what I understand, this hotel has an exceptional breakfast included in its price, starting at 6 am, that unfortunately, we were unable to enjoy as we had to leave too early. Once again, the shuttle took us to the airport and we were headed back home.

A few notes: I used the Northern Lights Coupon Book to save on some of our adventures. I booked the Enterprise rental car early through Costco travel. I had the car for 11 days. I used the supplemental rental car insurance offered by American Express. I used the Mile Post map book, which worked out great, to navigate.

jenmorg

I have just enjoyed reading your trip report but wondered if you could post some of the coatings. DH and I are thinking of going to Alaska next year but are unsure if we should do an organised tour (not something we usually do) or try to organise it ourselves. We are retired and in our early 60's. I'm also interested if you thought June was a good time to travel to Alaska? What was Alaska Airlines like?

Kapitall

I thought June was a great time to visit. We had pretty amazing weather, with a few overcast days and very little rain. I could easily have gotten by without a rain jacket, but it was nice to have it available.The only thing you might miss out on with June travel is perhaps if you wished to do a bear viewing trip. I think July is a better month for those types of trips as the salmon are running then. I picked June because I read it was the driest month.
I enjoy planning trips and tailoring them to our preferences, but it is more time intensive. This trip took more research than most. Once I had my itinerary decided on the reservations were easy. I did them all on line and never had one problem. I read other people's trip reports to get ideas on a feasible travel route. I didn't want to feel like we spent the whole trip sitting in a car, and I never felt that way on this trip. I loved having the freedom a car allows. Not being with a tour group also meant we didn't have a lot of crowds around when we went places. All the local Alaskans we met were very friendly and very helpful people.
I have used Alaska Airlines before, and never had a problem. The seats were comfortable and seemed to have more leg room than some competitors. Meals were an extra charge, a small snack and beverage were included. The flights were on time and had the most choices for our itinerary. They were just bought up by Virgin Airlines, so things may change. Alaska Airlines has one flight a day to Gustavus from Juneau, but I actually wanted to try the Marine Highway ferry and also wanted the time convenience of the air taxi back to Juneau in the morning. This allowed me the time to visit Mendenhall Glacier and downtown Juneau.
As to "coatings", if you are referring to what kind of warm clothing we brought, we dressed in layers. I had light weight silk long underwear, a light smart wool pull over shirt, a fleece jacket, a light weight down jacket that stuffs into a small sack and a light weight rain jacket that folds up and can be put in my purse. I did bring some light weight gloves and a wool hat and did wear them on the boat trips when out on the decks. Most days all I wore was my fleece jacket.
Good luck with your planning! I don't think you can go wrong as everywhere we went was just beautiful.

Slw

Thank you for this great report! This is something we've been thinking about doing and you really whetted our appetite and provided useful information. How far ahead did you start planning?

jenmorg

LOL! Coatings should have been "costing". My ipad likes to change things. Since I wrote my original reply I have looked up some of the places you mention and checked out how much they charge. I'm trying to get an idea of a total budget to see if it's feasible for us coming all the way from Australia. Like you, I usually do all my own bookings online and very rarely have a problem. We usually try to stay in one place for a week but I don't think that would work in Alaska.
Thanks again for all your info. I'll try to read my posts before I publish them to avoid confusion.

Kapitall

I started to do some real research in the Fall and made some reservations around the first of the year. I did book the car rental early (Dec), as I had read that you do get a better deal the earlier you book. We paid $354 for 11 days of unlimited mileage on a small car. There was no cancellation penalty, so I figured I would just go ahead. For the rest, to be honest, I don't think it was really necessary to book that early as most places still had some availability in June. However, we were somewhat early in the season and perhaps in July or August things would be booked up. It would be wonderful to spend a week at any one of these places, but Alaska is huge and there is just so much to see!
I did order the Northern lights coupon book on line to help with costs. They had some good deals for us. We used it for a discount on the rafting trip, the Glacier Bay Boat trip with a stay in the Lodge, Kenai Fjord boat trip, Musk Ox Farm, Reindeer Farm, Alyska Resort tram and 49th State Brewery. All the businesses honored the coupons. I also received a discount on the Major Marines boat tour for booking early. The only thing I paid full price for was the small plane glacier landing. I never found a discount that worked for us, but it was still worth it!
We did not stay in 5 star hotels, but for the most part cabins and B&Bs. We aimed for places that averaged out around $150/night. I tried to find places that offered breakfast as an added cost cutter. For us, living in California, gas and food was the same price as home.
Good luck with your plans!

suzanneaz

Fantastic trip report!! Thank you for sharing.

patandhank

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