JC98, waiting on your detailed Alaska trip report!
Jun 23rd, 2006, 06:20 PM
#21
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GLACIER BAY NATIONAL PARK
1) Sailing in. We had a marvelous day sailing into Glacier Bay National Park. It was bright and clear, calm and warm, but not too sunny either that it would diminish the blueness of the glaciers. As the captain said, we couldn't have picked a more perfect day for glacier viewing.
With the morning this glorious, my DH and I decided to have a leisurely breakfast on the deck right outside the Lido dining room, to watch the surrounding sceneries since our ship wouldn't get to the first glacier stop until 9 a.m. The previous 3 days we had ports of call, so our breakfasts were a rather hurried affair--rushing through our in-room ordered breakfasts while getting ready to get off the ship. (One of these days, we have to learn how to slow down on vacation--it's like bootcamp sometimes!) Anyhow, we practically had the whole back deck to ourselves--where were the rest of 1200 people? The only time we saw a high concentration of people were at dinner time and evening shows. Quite baffling.
Wow, talk about breakfast with a view! Glaciers (Reid and Lamplugh), ice floes, towering mountains, spruce forests, little islands slowly floating by on both sides of the ship. And to add excitement to this magnificent scenery, two whales (not sure which type?) were continuously spurting from their blowholes in a distance! I spotted them while getting my breakfast from the Lido buffet, and it seemed no one else saw them. My DH and I dropped our trays, and ran outside to track them until the ship got too far away to see.
This was the second time we saw whales from our ship, and a lot more to come later! The first time was also at breakfast; we spotted 2 orcas (Shamu)--their fins and parts of their black and white bodies--on our second day of sailing in the Inside Passage. It was right outside the window of where we sat, also in the Lido dining room, and no one else seemed to have noticed them. My DH commended my talent for spotting whales, and funny enough it's always in this particular dining room!
2) Margerie Glacier and John Hopkins Glacier. We sailed into Tarr Inlet and could see the Grand Pacific Glacier but the ship stopped right in front of Margerie. The glacier was bluish and still looked massive, given how big our ship was and how far away we were. Gulls were flocking about the ship, and bald eagles and white gulls with reddish feet were standing on ice floes in the distance. The HAL onboard naturalist pointed out a smaller boat and a kayak way out there--that really put the glacier in proper scale! They were tiny dots, and I had to zoom in 12x on my camera to take a decent picture. It must be awesome to be right on the water with a mountain of ice towering over you like that.
Then the calving happened. And it calved again and again. Loud rumbling thunders, followed by white rolling waves. It must have been truly awesome to be on that smaller boat or kayak! Then, for some forgotten reason, I had to make a quick dash back to our cabin to get something, as the captain was turning the ship around, so people on their room balconies on the other side the ship could see the glacier too. (We were standing on the main deck at the bow of the ship with views of both sides.) When I came back, my DH told me I missed the mother of all calvings. Two massive chunks of ice crashed in succession and you could even see tidal waves. Oh man! I regretted it so bad! In all, there were at least 6 or 7 calving incidents at this glacier. The National Park ranger (who came on our ship when we entered Glacier Bay) said Margerie had a fantastic performance that day. And the captain said it's the best he's seen in a while.
We next went to John Hopkins glacier, but we couldn't get too close to it, because some seals just had their pups on the ice floes. I couldn't see the seals, but others with better binoculars could. Too far away to see any calving here.
Then it took us several more hours to sail back out of the bay. HAL's naturalist pointed out bears on the shore, but we couldn't see any. About 4:30 p.m. the ship was entering Icy Strait, which supposed to have a lot of whales. We were back out on the bow with the onboard naturalist, and we saw many whales in the distance--spurting through their blow holes and flapping their tails. But nothing too close or amazing as the next evening. Stay tuned... After 2+ hours, we got all cold and tired, asthe sky had turned greyish and the wind picked up speed.
After a day like this, taking a dip in a heated pool as warm as bath water was such a welcome relief. It was so refreshing and relaxing to swim laps and just float on our backs in a practically deserted pool. I guess everyone was busy preparing for the formal night, and we still had enough time before our late dining time.
Jun 27th, 2006, 06:30 AM
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JC
If I remember correctly, I specifically told you to take lots of batteries, film and memory cards!!! Sounds like you had great time, and shows you can see and do a lot without spending big bucks for every tour. When will we see the rest of the photos or did you already tell us where? JQ
If I remember correctly, I specifically told you to take lots of batteries, film and memory cards!!! Sounds like you had great time, and shows you can see and do a lot without spending big bucks for every tour. When will we see the rest of the photos or did you already tell us where? JQ
Jun 27th, 2006, 04:37 PM
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It seems like people are eager for me to get off the cruise and talk about the land portion. 
Let me rush along. Last day on the cruise:
COLLEGE FJORD
Another gorgeous day as we sailed into Prince William Sound. It was sunny and warm enough for us to wear just a long sleeve shirt and no Extreme Squall jacket and head hood and gloves, etc. Since we wouldn't get to College Fjord until 4 p.m., we had a whole day just hanging out and bumping about on the ship. We napped a bit on the lounge chairs on the back deck, and I did a bit of sketching in my travel journal. Beautiful snowcapped mountains and calm reflecting water surrounded us.
We also spent some time in the ship's brand new library, sponsored by the New York Times. It's my favorite indoor space on the ship--spacious library with comfy leather arm chairs and sofas with a wall of windows looking out the to ocean. The collection included 3000+ titles--all brand new books--on a variety of subject areas, audio books and music CD's and DVD's for in-room watching. Everyday, they put out a new sudoku and NY Times cross word puzzle for you to do. While my husband worked on his sudoku puzzle, I researched a bit on what to do in Seward as we hadn't booked anything there yet!
OK, cut to the chase. About 4 p.m. we got into College Fjord, and I liked it a lot. Boom--a dozen plus glaciers all surrounded you in this inlet. Talk about bang for the buck (or the equivalent for glaciers)! Each was named after an ivy league / east coast college that sponsored the Harriman expedition in the late 1800's. You could see each one was unique, and of course the biggest of glaciers were named Harvard and Yale. We were in the area for about 3 hours. As we were sailing out, we could spot lots of sea otters floating by on their backs. Some mothers had their babies on their tummies. Very cute.
At dinner time, we had the best show of all. A sudden uproar broke out on the starboard side of the Main dining room, and dinner was disrupted as everyone rushed to that side of the room to look out the window. It felt like the ship was going to keel over. A big humpback whale was breaching the water and slapping its tail vigorously like right next to our ship (ok, very close)! It kept on slapping its tail like 50 times, as if it's waving goodbye. We all clapped and cheered, lots of picture snapping. And of all days, we didn't have our camera with us! Otherwise, we could have gotten pretty decent pictures because it was so close! Later we talked to someone who was out on the deck who followed the whale for a much longer duration, and they commented it was almost as good as whale watching in Juneau! The whale surely stole the farewell show put up by the dining staff that night. We still don't understand why the whale behaved like that? Was it just playing or it was in distress trying to tell us something? Anybody knows?
Let me rush along. Last day on the cruise:COLLEGE FJORD
Another gorgeous day as we sailed into Prince William Sound. It was sunny and warm enough for us to wear just a long sleeve shirt and no Extreme Squall jacket and head hood and gloves, etc. Since we wouldn't get to College Fjord until 4 p.m., we had a whole day just hanging out and bumping about on the ship. We napped a bit on the lounge chairs on the back deck, and I did a bit of sketching in my travel journal. Beautiful snowcapped mountains and calm reflecting water surrounded us.
We also spent some time in the ship's brand new library, sponsored by the New York Times. It's my favorite indoor space on the ship--spacious library with comfy leather arm chairs and sofas with a wall of windows looking out the to ocean. The collection included 3000+ titles--all brand new books--on a variety of subject areas, audio books and music CD's and DVD's for in-room watching. Everyday, they put out a new sudoku and NY Times cross word puzzle for you to do. While my husband worked on his sudoku puzzle, I researched a bit on what to do in Seward as we hadn't booked anything there yet!
OK, cut to the chase. About 4 p.m. we got into College Fjord, and I liked it a lot. Boom--a dozen plus glaciers all surrounded you in this inlet. Talk about bang for the buck (or the equivalent for glaciers)! Each was named after an ivy league / east coast college that sponsored the Harriman expedition in the late 1800's. You could see each one was unique, and of course the biggest of glaciers were named Harvard and Yale. We were in the area for about 3 hours. As we were sailing out, we could spot lots of sea otters floating by on their backs. Some mothers had their babies on their tummies. Very cute.
At dinner time, we had the best show of all. A sudden uproar broke out on the starboard side of the Main dining room, and dinner was disrupted as everyone rushed to that side of the room to look out the window. It felt like the ship was going to keel over.
A big humpback whale was breaching the water and slapping its tail vigorously like right next to our ship (ok, very close)! It kept on slapping its tail like 50 times, as if it's waving goodbye. We all clapped and cheered, lots of picture snapping. And of all days, we didn't have our camera with us! Otherwise, we could have gotten pretty decent pictures because it was so close! Later we talked to someone who was out on the deck who followed the whale for a much longer duration, and they commented it was almost as good as whale watching in Juneau! The whale surely stole the farewell show put up by the dining staff that night. We still don't understand why the whale behaved like that? Was it just playing or it was in distress trying to tell us something? Anybody knows?
Jun 27th, 2006, 09:39 PM
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jq, thanks to you, we ended up buying a 12x zoom camera, which made a huge difference in our picture taking experience. I haven't sorted thru our photos. I may post a few later if people are interested.
birder, thanks for your feedback. I also read your report, and it sounded like you had a great trip in AK too! I'll get to Denali soon enough. Bear with me. Unintentional pun! But we did see 10 grizzlies in Denali.
birder, thanks for your feedback. I also read your report, and it sounded like you had a great trip in AK too! I'll get to Denali soon enough. Bear with me. Unintentional pun! But we did see 10 grizzlies in Denali.
Jul 5th, 2006, 03:30 PM
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SEWARD
Our ship arrived at Seward (final destination) early in the morning, and we had nothing booked and no concrete plans! The only must-do on our list was Exit Glacier, and we were open to kayaking (as recommended by BayouGal) or the Kenai Fjord boat tour (highly recommended by BudgetQueen). Unfortunately, Seward was extremely, extremely windy that day (must have been a windstorm), so we didn't feel like doing any water activities.
1) Hertz Car Rental. We wanted to rent a car to go to Exit Glacier and get to Anchorage early. We'd checked with Hertz before we left for Alaska, but thought the $280 a day with dropoff at Anchorage was too exorbitant. Now we were willing to pay any price as we thought (wrongly) that there wasn't much else to do in Seward. We called Hertz but nothing was available, and they told us to check back later. They were gracious enough to let us leave our luggage in their back office the whole day! BTW, Seward seemed to be populated by genuinely nice folks!
2) Exit Glacier Tour. We found out about Exit Glacier Tour that provided roundtrip transport by van to Exit Glacier for $9 pp. Great deal compared to taxi ($50). They're located in a trailer opposite of the train depot. No time limit on the glacier; you just tell them when to come back to pick you up. Great service! They also offered a guided glacier trek on the Harding Ice Field, which we almost went for but chickened out when we learned that our tour companions were 9 navy guys who just came to town. We were afraid it might turn out to be a real bootcamp trying to keep pace with these navy dudes, even though the guys leading the tour tried to convince us that we should be able to handle it. I don't think we would have enough time for anything else if we had gone. Besides, the long hike up to the Harding Field (7 miles roundtrip) was mostly through trees, and we'd rather spend time right next to the glacier. For anyone interested, the tour was $125 pp for 5 hours, including 1+ hour trekking on ice, and all equipment provided.
3) Exit Glacier. We loved Exit Glacier, despite having been to Mendenhall Glacier, Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord. We were still not glaciered out! We went all over the area, except for the Harding Ice Field trail, and spent a total of 3 hours there, not counting transportation time. And despite the warning signs about not getting close to the glacier, we did (a sheepish confession here). I know I'd read about how a few foolish people got eliminated from the gene pool by doing so, but the temptation of touching the glacier was too great. Up close, you could see bluish hollows in the glacier and could feel its icy "breath". I think we set a bad example as others followed us up a slippery climb on gravel deposits right next to the glacier.
4) Restaurants. We ate at Chinooks Waterfront Restaurant and loved it. It's contemporary looking with volume ceiling and large windows looking out to the harbor. We got a great window table. Had excellent grilled halibut there--expertly grilled, a bit crispy on the outside and still juicy inside. Possibly one of the best grilled fish I had in a long time! Good service too. The waiter was honest about their salmons being frozen (not salmon season yet), so we opted for halibut. The price we thought was very reasonable, even cheap for a restaurant like this!
Also ate at a taco shop (forgot the name). It's also on the main street. It has a huge mural on a wall depicting the Alaska train running through the Southwest desert--pretty surreal. Nice, contemporary take on Mexican food. We again went for halibut--grilled halibut tacos--it's so tasty! Freshly prepared and accompanied by excellent freshly made salsa (several interesting varieties to choose from). The border towns in the lower 48 can learn a thing or two about salsa making from this Alaskan place! We loved it so much that we actually went back there again for another round of grilled halibut tacos right before we left Seward!
5) Halibut. We killed some time at the little harbor--fascinated by all the halibut activities there. Saw several halibuts hauled in that day, one weighing 90 lbs! Watched halibuts being filleted -- rather sparsely and still with a lot of meat left on it! Large portions of the fish were dumped into a long trough under the deck, which was to be recycled back into the ocean later. I know savvy cooks would have loved make soup stock out of these extremely fresh fish heads and bones (with lots of meat still on it). With all that fresh fish, no wonder we had such excellent halibuts in Seward!
6) Train to Anchorage. $64 pp taxes included. By 5 p.m. we gave up any hope of renting a car, so we bought train tickets to Anchorage. I know BQ highly recommended the train ride, so we had no qualms about it. We had checked with them in the day (plenty seats available), so the people at the train station were really happy that we finally decided to take it. Such nice folks! When I asked for a train souvenir stamp to put in my travel notebook, three guys behind the ticket counter fumbled about and came up with a bunch of souvenirs for me--vintage postcards, a nice poster showing the rail map and descriptions of notable points, bookmarks, even tattoo stickers! And these items were not put outside for anyone to take. Man, I was overwhelmed and didn't expect this at all.
Train ride was wow, wow, wow. The train itself was very lovely--you could walk around to any cars and there's a glass dome car on the 2nd floor. It's equipped with a dining room and a cafeteria with volume ceiling and huge windows. The sceneries were stunning outside. We saw a black bear happily and obliviously eating some bush right next to the track. Saw a moose close by too. Unfortunately didn't see any beluga whales at Turnagain Arm as the tide was extremely low, but the scenery was magnificent regardless.
A couple of young high school boys worked on the train, giving commentaries, etc. They were well-groomed and almost old-fashionedly polite--I felt like I was in "Leave it too Beaver" or something. They even shared albums of their life in Alaska .
7) Sheraton Anchorage. After 4 hours, we got into Anchorage. The Sheraton where we're staying provided free shuttle service between the train depot (or anywhere in downtown) and the hotel. We only learned about this when we called them as we're approaching Anchorage. That wasn't the answer when we called them back home! Very inconsistent service here.
We got a nice room on the 14th floor looking out to the Cook Inlet. It felt like 7 p.m. or something, and I thought we should hit down to grab something to eat and my DH reminded me it's almost midnight! Got to witness a beautiful midnight sunset over the Cook Inlet from our room!
About the Sheraton. We stayed here because we could use our SPG points, but in hindsight it was kinda a waste, as it cost more than double the number of points as other Sheratons and we stayed there for barely 10 hours or so. Also, the room was so noisy early in the morning--not sure what it was but it sounded like showers running in the room next to us. And to top it off, the fire alarm went off at 7 a.m. jerking us from our sleep. We panicked and had to think quickly the most essential things to take with us--in that haze we thought of shoes, jacket, wallet, passports, camera, But good thing the alarm was turned off before we had to evacuate the building in our pj's.
OMG, I just rambled on and on! Sorry if I bored anyone. This is for my own record as well.
Our ship arrived at Seward (final destination) early in the morning, and we had nothing booked and no concrete plans! The only must-do on our list was Exit Glacier, and we were open to kayaking (as recommended by BayouGal) or the Kenai Fjord boat tour (highly recommended by BudgetQueen). Unfortunately, Seward was extremely, extremely windy that day (must have been a windstorm), so we didn't feel like doing any water activities.
1) Hertz Car Rental. We wanted to rent a car to go to Exit Glacier and get to Anchorage early. We'd checked with Hertz before we left for Alaska, but thought the $280 a day with dropoff at Anchorage was too exorbitant. Now we were willing to pay any price as we thought (wrongly) that there wasn't much else to do in Seward. We called Hertz but nothing was available, and they told us to check back later. They were gracious enough to let us leave our luggage in their back office the whole day! BTW, Seward seemed to be populated by genuinely nice folks!
2) Exit Glacier Tour. We found out about Exit Glacier Tour that provided roundtrip transport by van to Exit Glacier for $9 pp. Great deal compared to taxi ($50). They're located in a trailer opposite of the train depot. No time limit on the glacier; you just tell them when to come back to pick you up. Great service! They also offered a guided glacier trek on the Harding Ice Field, which we almost went for but chickened out when we learned that our tour companions were 9 navy guys who just came to town. We were afraid it might turn out to be a real bootcamp trying to keep pace with these navy dudes, even though the guys leading the tour tried to convince us that we should be able to handle it. I don't think we would have enough time for anything else if we had gone. Besides, the long hike up to the Harding Field (7 miles roundtrip) was mostly through trees, and we'd rather spend time right next to the glacier. For anyone interested, the tour was $125 pp for 5 hours, including 1+ hour trekking on ice, and all equipment provided.
3) Exit Glacier. We loved Exit Glacier, despite having been to Mendenhall Glacier, Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord. We were still not glaciered out! We went all over the area, except for the Harding Ice Field trail, and spent a total of 3 hours there, not counting transportation time. And despite the warning signs about not getting close to the glacier, we did (a sheepish confession here). I know I'd read about how a few foolish people got eliminated from the gene pool by doing so, but the temptation of touching the glacier was too great. Up close, you could see bluish hollows in the glacier and could feel its icy "breath". I think we set a bad example as others followed us up a slippery climb on gravel deposits right next to the glacier.
4) Restaurants. We ate at Chinooks Waterfront Restaurant and loved it. It's contemporary looking with volume ceiling and large windows looking out to the harbor. We got a great window table. Had excellent grilled halibut there--expertly grilled, a bit crispy on the outside and still juicy inside. Possibly one of the best grilled fish I had in a long time! Good service too. The waiter was honest about their salmons being frozen (not salmon season yet), so we opted for halibut. The price we thought was very reasonable, even cheap for a restaurant like this!
Also ate at a taco shop (forgot the name). It's also on the main street. It has a huge mural on a wall depicting the Alaska train running through the Southwest desert--pretty surreal. Nice, contemporary take on Mexican food. We again went for halibut--grilled halibut tacos--it's so tasty! Freshly prepared and accompanied by excellent freshly made salsa (several interesting varieties to choose from). The border towns in the lower 48 can learn a thing or two about salsa making from this Alaskan place! We loved it so much that we actually went back there again for another round of grilled halibut tacos right before we left Seward!
5) Halibut. We killed some time at the little harbor--fascinated by all the halibut activities there. Saw several halibuts hauled in that day, one weighing 90 lbs! Watched halibuts being filleted -- rather sparsely and still with a lot of meat left on it! Large portions of the fish were dumped into a long trough under the deck, which was to be recycled back into the ocean later. I know savvy cooks would have loved make soup stock out of these extremely fresh fish heads and bones (with lots of meat still on it). With all that fresh fish, no wonder we had such excellent halibuts in Seward!
6) Train to Anchorage. $64 pp taxes included. By 5 p.m. we gave up any hope of renting a car, so we bought train tickets to Anchorage. I know BQ highly recommended the train ride, so we had no qualms about it. We had checked with them in the day (plenty seats available), so the people at the train station were really happy that we finally decided to take it. Such nice folks! When I asked for a train souvenir stamp to put in my travel notebook, three guys behind the ticket counter fumbled about and came up with a bunch of souvenirs for me--vintage postcards, a nice poster showing the rail map and descriptions of notable points, bookmarks, even tattoo stickers! And these items were not put outside for anyone to take. Man, I was overwhelmed and didn't expect this at all.
Train ride was wow, wow, wow. The train itself was very lovely--you could walk around to any cars and there's a glass dome car on the 2nd floor. It's equipped with a dining room and a cafeteria with volume ceiling and huge windows. The sceneries were stunning outside. We saw a black bear happily and obliviously eating some bush right next to the track. Saw a moose close by too. Unfortunately didn't see any beluga whales at Turnagain Arm as the tide was extremely low, but the scenery was magnificent regardless.
A couple of young high school boys worked on the train, giving commentaries, etc. They were well-groomed and almost old-fashionedly polite--I felt like I was in "Leave it too Beaver" or something. They even shared albums of their life in Alaska .
7) Sheraton Anchorage. After 4 hours, we got into Anchorage. The Sheraton where we're staying provided free shuttle service between the train depot (or anywhere in downtown) and the hotel. We only learned about this when we called them as we're approaching Anchorage. That wasn't the answer when we called them back home! Very inconsistent service here.
We got a nice room on the 14th floor looking out to the Cook Inlet. It felt like 7 p.m. or something, and I thought we should hit down to grab something to eat and my DH reminded me it's almost midnight! Got to witness a beautiful midnight sunset over the Cook Inlet from our room!
About the Sheraton. We stayed here because we could use our SPG points, but in hindsight it was kinda a waste, as it cost more than double the number of points as other Sheratons and we stayed there for barely 10 hours or so. Also, the room was so noisy early in the morning--not sure what it was but it sounded like showers running in the room next to us. And to top it off, the fire alarm went off at 7 a.m. jerking us from our sleep. We panicked and had to think quickly the most essential things to take with us--in that haze we thought of shoes, jacket, wallet, passports, camera, But good thing the alarm was turned off before we had to evacuate the building in our pj's.
OMG, I just rambled on and on! Sorry if I bored anyone. This is for my own record as well.
Jul 6th, 2006, 02:03 PM
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Don't worry, you are not boring anyone! I read your latest installment with rapt attention!
We also ate at Chinooks and loved it. Apparently some local people have said bad things about it. I don't know why ... the food was fantastic, the prices were good, and the view is out of this world. Plus, they don't allow smoking, which is a rarity in Alaska! So maybe that's why ...
Anyway, looking forward to hearing about Denali when you get a chance!
We also ate at Chinooks and loved it. Apparently some local people have said bad things about it. I don't know why ... the food was fantastic, the prices were good, and the view is out of this world. Plus, they don't allow smoking, which is a rarity in Alaska! So maybe that's why ...
Anyway, looking forward to hearing about Denali when you get a chance!
Jul 6th, 2006, 05:15 PM
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JC98, I am loving your trip report installments! If you will remember, lots of us told you there'd be plenty to do in and around Seward (I just had to be an "I told you so" for once!LoL) Seriously, it sounds like you really had such a great vacation, even if you didn't have a lot of time to travel after your cruise. No one can really prepare you for Alaska . . .it has to be seen and experienced to be believed. Didn't you just fall in love with the beauty and the people?! Alaska reminds me of the lower 48 when I was a girl (MANY moons ago! ;-) )
Now get back to your trip . . . we want MORE, MORE!
Now get back to your trip . . . we want MORE, MORE!
Jul 11th, 2006, 06:44 PM
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Thanks, BayouGal and birder, for following (and putting up with) my long trip report! It's encouraging to see someone is reading it! 
I'll get to Denali soon enough. Been tied up with things here.
I'll get to Denali soon enough. Been tied up with things here.
Jul 12th, 2006, 09:26 PM
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ON THE WAY TO DENALI NATIONAL PARK
1) Taxi from Anchorage downtown to Airport -- $25. We checked out early from the Sheraton to head out to Denali. Our taxi driver was a very talkative man in his late 50's or early 60's, a transplant from the lower 48 and had been living in Alaska for 40 years. Said he worked on the Alaska Pipeline and made really good money -- $200K a year (in 1970's??). Not sure he got his # right, but supposedly some people on the project got paid more than the Vice President of the United States, according to an exhibit in the Anchorage Museum of History and Art that we went to later. This was his second time coming out of retirement because he was bored with so much free time on hand, and he'd always wanted to drive a taxi.
Anyhow, the ride from downtown to the airport seemed rather short. If we had more time, I wouldn't mind trying to take the public bus instead. The central bus depot is right in downtown.
2) Payless Car Rental -- $147 for 3 days, taxes included. My husband booked this through American Express website. The original price was only $32/day but with taxes and surcharge for the airport location, it came out to be almost $50/day. After our unpleasant experience with Sourdough Car Rental in Skagway, I was nervous about renting with a small company. But it turned out good. They gave us an AWD Subaru Legacy station wagon with less than 30K miles on it (compared to 140K miles on Sourdough's!).
They also gave us directions to Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart to stock up water and some snacks for our Denali trip. We also stopped by some small cafe along the way to grab breakfast/lunch. Reindeer sausage mixed with scrambled eggs and cheese--somehow not a very good combo and we couldn't eat much of it. I guess we shouldn't try to push our Alaskan experience too far. And an OK grilled wild salmon sandwich. Interestingly enough, the cafe served freshly brewed Kona coffee--my DH's favorite since our Big Island trip last year.
3) Denali State Park. Free. Best place to see Denali's South Peak (the highest in North America at over 20K ft) and almost the entire Alaska Range. (BTW, the full South Peak is not visible within the National Park, only the slightly lower North Peak at 19K ft). The viewpoint was at one of the several pullout areas belonging to the State Park (btw, the state park seemed to be spread out everywhere along the highway with few signs to tell you what's going on. Quiteconfusing.).
We had a gloriously clear and sunny day. Slightly hot too--off with all my multiple layers and jacket and hat and gloves. The whole long Alaska Range was all visible, and Denali in glaring snow-white was out in full view against the intensely blue sky. The other peaks had interesting features, but only Denali's North Peak was the most prominent--symmetrical and majestic. Indeed the "Great One". You right away know it had to be Denali without consulting any map. What a magnificent sight to behold. We didn't realize how lucky we were, with supposedly only 30% chance of seeing this. On the third day when we drove back to Anchorage, we stopped by this viewpoint again, but it was a cloudy day and Denali completely disappeared from the Alaska Range! Completely! As if there was a big gap in the long stretch of mountains.
We then really wanted to do flightseeing. We called a flightseeing company in Talkeetna and of course all flights were booked solid that day. The lady said on a day as good as this people would drive all the way from Anchorage just to take the flight. Really too bad! I could imagine it to be one of the most unforgettable experiences of a lifetime to be face to face with this behemoth mountain.
Anyhow, it was here that we heard from others about the two women mountain climbers who were missing on Foraker, a very difficult peak to climb, more technically challenging than Denali. It was a big news item out there, and their story was constantly on the front page of the Anchorage paper. And everywhere we went, we heard people talked about it. Pretty sad. They were among the top female alpinists in the world, and that attempt was supposed to be the first all-female ascent on Foraker.
4) Denali National Park. We got into the park pretty late in the day, and the visitor center had closed already but the bookstore next to it was still open. We then hiked on the Horseshoe Lake trail (very easy). Nice calm lake in the shape of a horseshoe surrounded by evergreen trees. And boom it was a shock to see on one side of the lake, gigantic hotels and lodges sprouted all over a hill. Those from the Glitter Gulch it looks like. (BTW, I'm so glad we didn't stay in the Glitter Gulch--a bit of a mess there with a splatter of shops and lodges right outside the park entrance.) Anyway, at the end of trail you could see a big beaver dam, stopping the flow of the lake into a trickle. Pretty big logs they cut! And we got all excited to see two beavers running along the shore and plopping into the lake and swimming about. Some mosquitos here, so we pulled our mosquito head nets for the first time in Alaska.
5) Dinner at McKinley Creek Lodge. Our lodge manager recommended this. Had their grilled halibut tacos. Pretty decent but the halibut wasn't as good as in Seward. The fish was chopped in small pieces.
6) Carlo Creek Lodge. $80/night including taxes for 2 nights. 12 miles south of Denali NP entrance or about 15 minutes drive. This was a great find! It felt remote (but not really) and authentically Alaskan. I was a bit scared about staying here because it wasn't reviewed by major guidebooks,and it seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere-- "nestled on 32 wooded acres" of homestead land, according to their website. But I really wanted to stay in an Alaskan log cabin, instead of a generic motel. Once we saw the place, all my fears dissipated and we fell in love with it!
We had a standalone log cabin with shared outside baths It was one of the 4 shared bath cabins recently built in 2004--new and clean. These log cabins were really adorable--made out of blonde roughly hewn logs with big burl wood posts on the front porch and real moose antlers as door handles. Each cabin looked different as they were built from real logs, not manufactured ones. The front porch had a small table and 2 stools made from tree stumps where we ate our breakfast. Inside was rather spacious with a queen and a twin bed, night stands, a chair, and enough room to put our luggage and move about. Nice little decorative touches too, like a rustic B&B.
The shared baths, actually 4 individual full bathrooms (enough for the 4 cabins) all clustered together, were just steps away. I was also a bit scared about not having a private bath (you know, bumping into a bear in the middle of the night. My overactive imagination gone wild.), but the baths were so close by and it never got dark and the whole area felt safe. When we were checking in, I asked the young guy at the front desk whether there were any bears on the premise, and he said if there were any they'd end up like that, pointing to a huge grizzly skin rug, head attached, sprawling on a wall of the front office. Other decoration items were heads of various local animals (moose, caribou) and lots of moose antlers.
Anyway, back to the bathrooms. They were quite new and spacious with high ceiling, each with its own toilet, sink, and shower stalls. One had 2 shower stalls. Good showers. Airy and heated when you turn on the light switch. And it was spotless! I'm very particular about cleanliness, and I couldn't find any faults with this place. Towels and small soaps were provided. Bring your own shampoo.
The premise had a few other older cabins with private baths and one with a kitchen I think. And lots of nice campsites and RV sites in the back, but all empty when we were there. There was a drinking well (we didn't try--afraid of getting tummy ache), an outdoor kitchen area with a bbq grill and sink. We didn't use these facilities.
Sleeping was very pleasant--comfy bed and we were lulled to sleep by the sound of rushing water. It turned out there's a creek running very close by on the property and I think the Nenana River too (but we didn't go look for this one). The only thing was it never got dark at this time of the year, so we had to add extra drapery to the window using my big scarf.
Their website: http://www.carlocreek.com/index.htm. Believe me, it looks more charming than here. The people running the place were very friendly.
====
OK, I still haven't gotten too much into Denali! More next time... I really need a merciless editor here to cut out all my sidetracking rambling!
1) Taxi from Anchorage downtown to Airport -- $25. We checked out early from the Sheraton to head out to Denali. Our taxi driver was a very talkative man in his late 50's or early 60's, a transplant from the lower 48 and had been living in Alaska for 40 years. Said he worked on the Alaska Pipeline and made really good money -- $200K a year (in 1970's??). Not sure he got his # right, but supposedly some people on the project got paid more than the Vice President of the United States, according to an exhibit in the Anchorage Museum of History and Art that we went to later. This was his second time coming out of retirement because he was bored with so much free time on hand, and he'd always wanted to drive a taxi.
Anyhow, the ride from downtown to the airport seemed rather short. If we had more time, I wouldn't mind trying to take the public bus instead. The central bus depot is right in downtown.
2) Payless Car Rental -- $147 for 3 days, taxes included. My husband booked this through American Express website. The original price was only $32/day but with taxes and surcharge for the airport location, it came out to be almost $50/day. After our unpleasant experience with Sourdough Car Rental in Skagway, I was nervous about renting with a small company. But it turned out good. They gave us an AWD Subaru Legacy station wagon with less than 30K miles on it (compared to 140K miles on Sourdough's!).
They also gave us directions to Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart to stock up water and some snacks for our Denali trip. We also stopped by some small cafe along the way to grab breakfast/lunch. Reindeer sausage mixed with scrambled eggs and cheese--somehow not a very good combo and we couldn't eat much of it. I guess we shouldn't try to push our Alaskan experience too far.
And an OK grilled wild salmon sandwich. Interestingly enough, the cafe served freshly brewed Kona coffee--my DH's favorite since our Big Island trip last year.3) Denali State Park. Free. Best place to see Denali's South Peak (the highest in North America at over 20K ft) and almost the entire Alaska Range. (BTW, the full South Peak is not visible within the National Park, only the slightly lower North Peak at 19K ft). The viewpoint was at one of the several pullout areas belonging to the State Park (btw, the state park seemed to be spread out everywhere along the highway with few signs to tell you what's going on. Quiteconfusing.).
We had a gloriously clear and sunny day. Slightly hot too--off with all my multiple layers and jacket and hat and gloves. The whole long Alaska Range was all visible, and Denali in glaring snow-white was out in full view against the intensely blue sky. The other peaks had interesting features, but only Denali's North Peak was the most prominent--symmetrical and majestic. Indeed the "Great One". You right away know it had to be Denali without consulting any map. What a magnificent sight to behold. We didn't realize how lucky we were, with supposedly only 30% chance of seeing this. On the third day when we drove back to Anchorage, we stopped by this viewpoint again, but it was a cloudy day and Denali completely disappeared from the Alaska Range! Completely! As if there was a big gap in the long stretch of mountains.
We then really wanted to do flightseeing. We called a flightseeing company in Talkeetna and of course all flights were booked solid that day. The lady said on a day as good as this people would drive all the way from Anchorage just to take the flight. Really too bad! I could imagine it to be one of the most unforgettable experiences of a lifetime to be face to face with this behemoth mountain.
Anyhow, it was here that we heard from others about the two women mountain climbers who were missing on Foraker, a very difficult peak to climb, more technically challenging than Denali. It was a big news item out there, and their story was constantly on the front page of the Anchorage paper. And everywhere we went, we heard people talked about it. Pretty sad. They were among the top female alpinists in the world, and that attempt was supposed to be the first all-female ascent on Foraker.
4) Denali National Park. We got into the park pretty late in the day, and the visitor center had closed already but the bookstore next to it was still open. We then hiked on the Horseshoe Lake trail (very easy). Nice calm lake in the shape of a horseshoe surrounded by evergreen trees. And boom it was a shock to see on one side of the lake, gigantic hotels and lodges sprouted all over a hill. Those from the Glitter Gulch it looks like. (BTW, I'm so glad we didn't stay in the Glitter Gulch--a bit of a mess there with a splatter of shops and lodges right outside the park entrance.) Anyway, at the end of trail you could see a big beaver dam, stopping the flow of the lake into a trickle. Pretty big logs they cut! And we got all excited to see two beavers running along the shore and plopping into the lake and swimming about. Some mosquitos here, so we pulled our mosquito head nets for the first time in Alaska.
5) Dinner at McKinley Creek Lodge. Our lodge manager recommended this. Had their grilled halibut tacos. Pretty decent but the halibut wasn't as good as in Seward. The fish was chopped in small pieces.
6) Carlo Creek Lodge. $80/night including taxes for 2 nights. 12 miles south of Denali NP entrance or about 15 minutes drive. This was a great find! It felt remote (but not really) and authentically Alaskan. I was a bit scared about staying here because it wasn't reviewed by major guidebooks,and it seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere-- "nestled on 32 wooded acres" of homestead land, according to their website. But I really wanted to stay in an Alaskan log cabin, instead of a generic motel. Once we saw the place, all my fears dissipated and we fell in love with it!
We had a standalone log cabin with shared outside baths It was one of the 4 shared bath cabins recently built in 2004--new and clean. These log cabins were really adorable--made out of blonde roughly hewn logs with big burl wood posts on the front porch and real moose antlers as door handles. Each cabin looked different as they were built from real logs, not manufactured ones. The front porch had a small table and 2 stools made from tree stumps where we ate our breakfast. Inside was rather spacious with a queen and a twin bed, night stands, a chair, and enough room to put our luggage and move about. Nice little decorative touches too, like a rustic B&B.
The shared baths, actually 4 individual full bathrooms (enough for the 4 cabins) all clustered together, were just steps away. I was also a bit scared about not having a private bath (you know, bumping into a bear in the middle of the night. My overactive imagination gone wild.), but the baths were so close by and it never got dark and the whole area felt safe. When we were checking in, I asked the young guy at the front desk whether there were any bears on the premise, and he said if there were any they'd end up like that, pointing to a huge grizzly skin rug, head attached, sprawling on a wall of the front office. Other decoration items were heads of various local animals (moose, caribou) and lots of moose antlers.
Anyway, back to the bathrooms. They were quite new and spacious with high ceiling, each with its own toilet, sink, and shower stalls. One had 2 shower stalls. Good showers. Airy and heated when you turn on the light switch. And it was spotless! I'm very particular about cleanliness, and I couldn't find any faults with this place. Towels and small soaps were provided. Bring your own shampoo.
The premise had a few other older cabins with private baths and one with a kitchen I think. And lots of nice campsites and RV sites in the back, but all empty when we were there. There was a drinking well (we didn't try--afraid of getting tummy ache), an outdoor kitchen area with a bbq grill and sink. We didn't use these facilities.
Sleeping was very pleasant--comfy bed and we were lulled to sleep by the sound of rushing water. It turned out there's a creek running very close by on the property and I think the Nenana River too (but we didn't go look for this one). The only thing was it never got dark at this time of the year, so we had to add extra drapery to the window using my big scarf.
Their website: http://www.carlocreek.com/index.htm. Believe me, it looks more charming than here. The people running the place were very friendly.
====
OK, I still haven't gotten too much into Denali! More next time... I really need a merciless editor here to cut out all my sidetracking rambling!
Jul 14th, 2006, 01:26 PM
#35
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ALASKA TRIP PHOTOS
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesho...e&conn_speed=1
OK, I'm taking a break from writing my trip report. And I'm sure you are probably sick of reading it too.
See some photos in the link above. You shouldn't need to login.
BTW, I don't see many people sharing their trip photos. It might be interesting to see what you all see, esp. of places I haven't been to.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesho...e&conn_speed=1
OK, I'm taking a break from writing my trip report. And I'm sure you are probably sick of reading it too.
See some photos in the link above. You shouldn't need to login.
BTW, I don't see many people sharing their trip photos. It might be interesting to see what you all see, esp. of places I haven't been to.
Jul 14th, 2006, 03:18 PM
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Hi JC98,
I've been enjoying reading your trip reports, and now looking at your pictures. They are amazing!
We're leaving for two weeks in Alaska in just a few days. Flying into Anchorage--then doing some trips out of Whittier and Seward, also going into Denali for a few days. Then out to Homer.
I have two questions for you:
I'm wondering how big of a lens you had on your camera? You have some truly wonderful photos. You have a very "good eye".
Also--where did you get your best wildlife pictures in Denali? It doesn't look as though you took them out of a bus window. Did you get off the bus and hike around? We'll be staying at the Denali Backcountry Lodge for a couple of nights, so we'll hike around there. But, I don't think we'll be free to spend time along the road in between.
Thanks so much for your reports. The info you've given has been such a help!
I've been enjoying reading your trip reports, and now looking at your pictures. They are amazing!
We're leaving for two weeks in Alaska in just a few days. Flying into Anchorage--then doing some trips out of Whittier and Seward, also going into Denali for a few days. Then out to Homer.
I have two questions for you:
I'm wondering how big of a lens you had on your camera? You have some truly wonderful photos. You have a very "good eye".
Also--where did you get your best wildlife pictures in Denali? It doesn't look as though you took them out of a bus window. Did you get off the bus and hike around? We'll be staying at the Denali Backcountry Lodge for a couple of nights, so we'll hike around there. But, I don't think we'll be free to spend time along the road in between.
Thanks so much for your reports. The info you've given has been such a help!
Jul 14th, 2006, 03:43 PM
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First, JC98, we could NEVER get bored of your riveting, chock-full-of-details trip reports!
However, I am awfully glad you posted your photos because they are SIMPLY STUNNING. Please do tell us the camera you use, although the beauty comes from the photographer's touch!
It's so weird to see Denali in different colors, we went last August and it looked much much greener. I will try to post a link to my photos as well.
However, I am awfully glad you posted your photos because they are SIMPLY STUNNING. Please do tell us the camera you use, although the beauty comes from the photographer's touch!
It's so weird to see Denali in different colors, we went last August and it looked much much greener. I will try to post a link to my photos as well.
Jul 14th, 2006, 05:11 PM
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Cool, I figured it out ... here are the photos from my August 2004 trip:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesho...e&conn_speed=1
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesho...e&conn_speed=1
Jul 14th, 2006, 07:19 PM
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OMG, you two (Birder and JC98), such great photos! Thanks so much for sharing!
Stunning photos, JC98!!! I feel as though you saw an Alaska that I didn't. We were there at the same time last year, but there was more snow when you were there.
Birder, yours are excellent, too. Although you went in August, that's more what it looked like when we were there in May/June 2005. Must have been a drier year in 2005.
Now I want details from each of you . . . camera, lens, can we go with you next time, etc.????? Seriously, wonderful photos!
Stunning photos, JC98!!! I feel as though you saw an Alaska that I didn't. We were there at the same time last year, but there was more snow when you were there.
Birder, yours are excellent, too. Although you went in August, that's more what it looked like when we were there in May/June 2005. Must have been a drier year in 2005.
Now I want details from each of you . . . camera, lens, can we go with you next time, etc.????? Seriously, wonderful photos!
Jul 14th, 2006, 07:35 PM
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Thanks ... actually, my husband took almost all the photos -- except for the ones of him fishing & the ones around Vagt Lake ... yes, all the mushroom photos are mine! I actually don't know what kind of camera, he's away on travel, when he gets back, I will ask.
Personally, I think JC98's are phenomenal. There's so much contrast ... especially the one of the mountains black & white. WOW
I actually don't know what kind of camera, he's away on travel, when he gets back, I will ask.Personally, I think JC98's are phenomenal. There's so much contrast ... especially the one of the mountains black & white. WOW
