Alaska August 2011

Winnie pictured in front

I made it to Alaska this year on a family vacation with my parents.  I'm posting late, due to poor cell phone reception and general laziness on my part.  We rented an RV (which Mom and I nicknamed Winnie) and spent a week touring the area around Anchorage, before I went back to work and my parents kept going farther out on the rest of their vacation alone.  The RV was really nice, almost new, with plenty of room for the 3 of us.  We stopped by Elmendorf Air Force Base to stock the kitchen before we hit the road


 

Our first destination was Denali National Park.  I started out driving and we made it to Denali in record time, which is the reason Dad and I got into an argument.  I drove the RV at 70 mph and Dad drove the RV at 35 mph - Mom wisely chose to stay out of it all together.  The day started out clear and we got an excellent view of the mountains from the road.  The park is massive and you can only drive into the very first part.  We drove to the visitor's center and access center where the buses take you into the actual park.  We didn't manage to see any wildlife - a recurring theme on our trip.  You have a 30% chance of seeing the mountains due to the weather in Alaska, so I guess we were fortunate in that aspect.  Mom did make us a great spaghetti dinner that night before we began driving back toward Anchorage.  The next day, Dad and I reached a compromise, I wouldn't let the RV RPMs get above 2000, which let us make decent speed, usually.



Denali from the Road



Proof that I beat the BUBBLE!



There is one point about the RV that I need to discuss - the bubble.  During the RV orientation video you are informed that the RV must remain relatively level if parked for more than 30 minutes or the freezer will fail.  There is an old-school level on the kitchen counter and every time you park for the night you have to maneuver the vehicle until you are level.  This is harder than it sounds and I parked the RV in some interesting positions to beat the "bubble."

The next day we were on the road to head south.  We did stop in Wasilla - home of the largest Wal-Mart in Alaska and Sarah Pallin, but we did not see either.  Instead, we stopped by the Iditarod museum.  Try to visit the museum on a pretty day, because they bring in sled dogs for tours and you can pet the puppies if there are any. 





After clearing Anchorage again, we headed south for the Kenai Peninsula.  We had the Milepost guide, which kept pointing out fun little sidetrips and interesting bits.  One of those stops was the Portage Glacier.  There are small bits of the Portage Glacier floating off as bergs in the lake and you can take an hour long boat ride out close to the glacier.  The Park Ranger told us we could actually hike to and touch a glacier if we went up to Exit Glacier, so we did.   You have to cross a glacier stream, twice, to get to the glacier and Mom and I both got our feet wet, but it was nice to get out and hike after a day in the RV.  I was immensely popular with the local mosquitoes and knats, sigh. I don't think you are supposed to touch the glacier, there was a warning sign, but I didn't read it.  It was pretty cool to touch an actual glacier.

 





Sunset in Alaska



Waterfall on the roadside

The day we went to Seward we slept in an RV park right on the ocean.  We asked a local where to get the best fish and chips - and after getting a little lost in a town of about 20 blocks - we found the hole in the wall she had recommended.  I will not lie - the place looked really sketchy.  The meal was great though and you have to have halibut before you leave Alaska.  In the morning we found a local waterfall before we headed toward Kenai.  The Kenai Peninsula is beautiful, you go between ocean and mountains and everything is so green.  The only wildlife we saw - swans!  Who knew? 



Anchorage Sign Post



My last day we went back to Anchorage so I could catch my flight.  We toured downtown before I left.  There is a block of tourist shops and a few museums about Anchorage that were interesting to look at.  There is also a fish ladder where a lot of fishermen were trying to catch the poor salmon returning.  This is the closest I came to wildlife on the trip - except mosquitoes.



I checked with Mom (I wasn't sure about some of the Northeastern states) and I have now been to all 50 states!  I would like to thank my parents' for my childhood road trips and vacations and my job for all my travel assignments that made this possible.