By Lara
As I may have mentioned, Alaska wasn't on the Year of the Birthday list. However, it was my 30th birthday present to myself. I am rarely one to turn down an opportunity to travel. I have felt that Alaska was calling my name for a long time. I was finally able to cross it off the list in May. I was also able to be more specific about the things I want to see when I go back to Alaska.
This article would probably be about twenty pages long if I were to describe the entire trip in detail, but I still wanted to relive the highlights. Keep in mind that my goal on the trip, aside from wanting to see the breath-taking scenery, was to see both a moose and a sea otter up close and personal.
I managed to convince my friend Kate to travel with me. Once we got to Anchorage, we were able to visit with another friend of ours, Ryan. He showed us the downtown area of Anchorage, and took us to Flattop Mountain to go moose hunting. I found a lot of evidence that moose had been there, but no actual encounters of a moose-kind.
Kate and I had signed up for a bus tour. It left from Anchorage. The drive from Anchorage to Valdez was unbelievable. The forests were spruce, birch, and willow. The mountains were dazzling with snow and ice. The lakes and rivers were clear. The air was fresh. We saw our very first glaciers. The tour guide even let us out to play near a couple of them. Honestly, I got my money's worth on just the first day.
As we drove back down from the mountains towards Valdez, we started seeing waterfalls. I have a personal fondness for waterfalls. The Bridal Veil Falls and the Horse Tail Falls were two of the most spectacular waterfalls I have ever seen. Valdez is called, by the local tourist companies I'm sure, The Switzerland of Alaska. The town itself is a little bit sketchy, but the views are spectacular.
This brings me to our next activity. We took a catamaran from Valdez through Prince William Sound. The water was emerald green, the fjords were amazing, and the wildlife did not disappoint us. We saw a humpback wale, sea lions, several dahl porpoise, and OTTERS. I was extremely excited.
The drive to Fairbanks was not nearly as beautiful as the drive to Valdez. It was still lovely, but I was spoiled by then. We stopped at "North Pole, Alaska" on our way. It was rather cheesy. They had ornaments made out of moose poo. The nature paths at our hotel, however, were quite nice. Kate and I were able to see some beavers and Sandhill Cranes.
I wasn't expecting too much from the activities listed for Fairbanks. The river boat was slightly more entertaining than I had expected. The sled dog demonstration was neat. The Native Chena village was educational. Downtown Fairbanks was cold. We got to pan for gold at the El Dorado Gold Mine. Kate and I skipped the salmon bake in favor of another nature walk. We found moose tracks. No moose.
From Fairbanks to Denali, we took the train. That was cool. You definitely see the scenery from a different perspective from the train. Denali was crazy cold. There was fresh snow on the mountains and signs warning us about grizzley bears. We went to a dinner theater in Denali... I don't want to talk about it.
The bus tour of Denali National Park was an adventure in wildlife. I was amazed at the types of animals we saw. In no particular order, we saw grizzley bears, caribu, mountian sheep, a lynx, willow ptarmigans, and someone claimed to see a moose in the distance. It was a 7 hour tour, and I was completely discouraged as we drove through the gate without really seeing a moose. Then Trevor spotted him. He was eating grass from an island in the visitor's center parking lot. Silly moose. Happy Lara.
Since I have already mentioned Anchorage, I will move on to Seward. The fog had come in the morning we started to Seward. Even through the haze, you could tell that the Kenai Penninsula was beautiful. Our boat tour of Fjords National Park was chilly, but we got to see a pod of orca and some pretty amazing calving glaciers. It was totally worth the extra day.
If you ever get the chance to go to Alaska, definitely do it. It was such an amazing experience. If you need a travel buddy, I'm totally up for going again. Just saying...