Alaska

In 2018, we decided to vacation in Alaska.  Actually, my daughter, Ally, suggested it.  Between our family vacations and a job that had given her the opportunity to travel through many of the US states, Alaska was one of two US states she had not yet visited.  Hawaii was the other state, and the majority opinion of the family was to go to Alaska.  This trip included myself, my husband Greg, our three adult children-Ally, Sarah and Ryan- and Ryan’s girlfriend, Kelly.  Ryan and Kelly had been dating for quite a while, but Kelly did not really know our family that well. I think she was very brave to go on this trip. She had met me and Greg, and Kelly and Sarah had known each other even before Kelly and Ryan had started to date.  But she had never met Ally.  Ryan, being the typical younger brother, had told Kelly stories about Ally, and now Kelly was a little scared of her.  I’m sure the stories were exaggerated.  The stories consisted of the a.m. Ally, pre-coffee.  Just to be clear, Ally is a sweet, kind person….

……except in the morning before coffee. 

Everyone knows-don’t talk to her, don’t be too cheerful, avoid eye contact, and don’t get between Ally and the coffee pot.  Just stay out of the way and no one gets hurt.  Kelly is a wise girl-she followed Ryan’s advice, and she and Ally got along just fine. 

We arrived at the airport in St. Louis to catch our flight to Alaska.  Ally was living in Annandale, Virginia, so she was taking a different flight and meeting us in Anchorage.

We were rolling our large pieces of luggage through the airport (minimalist packing was not a thing for us in 2018), and Sarah suddenly flipped over her bag and landed flat on the floor. An airport employee happened to be standing nearby.  She gasped and asked if Sarah was alright.  She gave the rest of us a look of reproach because we were all bent over laughing.  Obviously, this lady had never traveled with the Halls. 

These were some of the views from the window of the plane as we were approaching Alaska.

We arrived in Anchorage, met up with Ally, and got ready to start our Alaska vacation. Our first stop was Denali National Park.  These were some of the views we had on the drive to Denali. It seemed like each time we thought we had seen the most beautiful view, we would round a curve and there would be a more beautiful view.

We stopped along the way to take pictures of some moose.

I had booked a cabin, called Aspen Haus. These cabins are in a secluded area near the town of Healy.  The cabins were in a wooded area and were very nice.  They had little kitchenettes and the owners let us use a grill on the property.  We grilled pizzas one night.  I left Ryan in charge of the grill.  The toppings tasted good. Maybe turn the heat down a little to protect the crusts next time. There were paths in the woods and we enjoyed walking around and exploring the area. 

Ryan and Kelly took a walk one night and came upon a junior moose.  There was a playground near the cabins. The playground area was run down and a little creepy.  As we were walking around the playground, the swings started moving by themselves.  It was probably just a breeze, but I had a lot of fun making up a story to scare Ally.  She hates being scared, which made it more fun. 

We checked out some easy hiking trails on the first day. The scenery was beautiful and we took some great pictures.

Later that day, we went on an ATV tour.  I had never driven an ATV, but how hard could it be?  Turns out, it was terrifying.  The look on Ryan’s face in this picture makes me think he was probably watching me practicing on the ATV. He was right to be concerned.

The guide put me right behind him, and I tried really hard to keep up.  I didn’t see any of the scenery because I was holding onto the handles for dear life, looking at the guide’s tires, trying to stay right behind him so I didn’t drive off the side of the mountain.  When we stopped for a break, the guide turned to me and said, “I don’t think you’re having a good time.” Was it that obvious? Was it the look of terror on my face?  Or maybe it was my white knuckles as I gripped the handlebars on this death machine on wheels. I got off the ATV, painfully attempting to straighten my fingers. The guide offered to let me ride in a side by side with another guide.  When they took my ATV away, Greg came over to see what was going on.  I told him that I was going to ride with the guide because I was scared.  He then admitted that he was scared as well, and he would like to ride in the side by side too.  They ended up letting Greg drive the side by side.  We felt much safer and we were able to enjoy the rest of tour. The kids really enjoyed the ATVs. 

Sarah ran hers into a bush, but she was unharmed.  She soon untangled herself and she was able to continue on the tour. 

It was a fun day!

We went to a dog sled demonstration.  There was no snow, since it was summer.  We were able to see the dogs, and we were able to pet some of them.

They took a guy in a sled on a ride on a dirt path, but it wasn’t the same as seeing the dogs pulling the sled in the snow.  I’m trying to convince my family that it would be fun to go to Nome, Alaska during the Iditarod and volunteer to help with the race.  Volunteering to help with the race is really a thing.  Since the race goes from Anchorage to Nome, we could volunteer in Nome, Anchorage, or at trail checkpoints along the way.  So far, I have not been able to convince anyone that this would be a fun vacation.  The comments have included, “I don’t want to work on vacation” and “it would be really cold.” I will keep working on them.  I think it would be a great experience. 

I did a little research, and I found a hike I really wanted to do.  I wanted to hike Mount Healy.

Greg opted out of this activity.  The next day, the kids and I set out for the hike. Mount Healy reaches elevations of 6000 feet, so this was going to be a good hike.  We started out at the Denali Visitor Center, on the Taiga Trail. 

The trail was steep and rocky.  After a few hours, Sarah began complaining and she was really starting to struggle.  She was falling behind and she started talking about going back.  I did not want her going back by herself. There are grizzly bears in Alaska, and I figured two of us would be a better match for a grizzly than Sarah by herself. 

Sarah sat on a rock, burst into tears, and proceeded to have a meltdown.  I sent Ally, Ryan and Kelly on up the mountain and I sat with Sarah for a few minutes.  I offered to go down with her, but she refused because she said she knew how much I wanted to hike this mountain.  She finally calmed down and decided she would continue on.  The trail was a switchback trail.  Sarah decided she would take a shortcut.  Now.  I know all of you avid hikers will be judging us for this next move.  But remember, this was in 2018, and we have learned a lot about hiking etiquette since then.  We now know that climbing between the switchbacks is a big no-no, and we would never do it again.  But that day, it seemed like a good idea….at first.  Sarah changed her mind by the time she had accomplished the task. The hat says it all.

We finally made it to the top of Mount Healy.  Ryan rewarded Sarah with an Oreo. 

We all made it!

It was beautiful at the top.

While we were hiking, Greg followed a tour bus around the park in our rented van.  That was actually a clever idea.  He found some beautiful places and we visited them the next day.  We went on the Savage River Loop Trail.

It was an easy, approximately two mile hike along the Savage River. 

Is that a Sasquatch footprint?

As far as Ryan is concerned, it is. We enjoyed the day.  

Ryan-always living on the edge. That was going to be cold if he slipped and fell in. 

The next day we left for Anchorage.  I had booked an Airbnb.  It was very close to the coastal trail.  The coastal trail leads to downtown Anchorage. The Airbnb had bikes we could use, and we spent some time riding bikes, walking on the trail, and souvenir shopping in Anchorage.  Ryan had been looking for signs of a Sasquatch the whole time we were in Denali.  He’s a believer. He did not have any luck in Denali, but he did find a Sasquatch in Anchorage.  Not exactly in the wild, but he was willing to pose for the picture anyway. 

One day, we took the train from Anchorage to Seward.  Seward is located just outside the Kenai Fjords National Park.  The train had huge windows and the train staff would announce on the speakers when they saw wildlife.  The train would slow down so that everyone could see. We arrived in Seward, where we had reservations for a whale watching boat tour with Kenai Fjords Tours.  We were going on the Glacier Cruise. The Glacier Cruise was one of everyone’s favorite days.  We saw several whales on that day. 

We saw puffins,

and some sea lions.

We were served a light lunch and some delicious cookies.  The boat got really close to a huge glacier. Hence…the name of the tour, Glacier Cruise. I think all the guests would have been disappointed if we had not seen a glacier.

Pieces of ice were floating in the water.  The crew lifted some ice out of the water so we could get our pictures taken with the pieces of the glacier. 

It was a beautiful day, and we all had so much fun. In fact, Ally had so much fun that, a few months later, she quit her job in Virginia and went back to Alaska to work on a boat with Kenai Fjords Tours. But that’s a story for another time. I need to be careful about where I take my family on vacation.  Kelly and Ryan occasionally make noises about moving to Scotland.  Maybe I should make the next vacation in our home town.  Then they can all move back here and I can have them all close all of the time.    

We all had a wonderful time on this trip.  One word of warning…if you travel to Alaska in the summer, it does not get dark at night.  We tended to lose track of time.  We would be grouchy and snapping at each other and then we would realize that it was 11:00 pm and we had not had dinner yet.  So you may want to set an alarm or something so that you can remember to eat and rest.  It’s a very weird feeling-we were wearing sunglasses at 9:00 or 10:00 at night.   

Tips:

1. The Aspen Haus cabins can now be booked using Airbnb.
2. If you are interested in volunteering for the Iditarod, check out the website Iditarod.com/volunteers/.  And if you are serious about going, let me know.  As it stands with my family right now, I will probably need to find someone to go with me. 
3. If interested in the Glacier Cruise, visit https://www.alaska.org>details>kenai-fjords-tours.
4. Set your alarms to remember to eat and rest if you travel to Alaska in the summer. 
5. It is considered bad hiking etiquette to climb between the switchbacks on a trail. It damages vegetation, loosens soil, and leads to erosion. Don’t do it.
6. Tickets for the scenic train from Anchorage to Seward can be found at https://www.alaskarailroad.com
7. ATV tours can be found at https:/www.denaliatv.com. If driving an ATV terrifies you, they will let you ride in a side by side. And if your husband is willing to admit he is terrified too, he can ride with you in the side by side.