YEAR VISITED: 2021

FAVORITE CITIES AND EXPERIENCES: Alaska will forever be remembered as the state The Castro Family celebrated the accomplishment of traveling to all fifty states. While we had always envisioned taking a celebratory Alaskan Cruise, with the COVID pandemic still proving to be a force to be reckoned with, we did not feel comfortable being on a cruise ship. As a result we flew into Anchorage and met up with my Uncle Steve and his Wife Janel.

They live in Indian, an extremely small town 45 minutes south of the airport. The drive took us along highway 1 south around the Turnagain Arm peninsula. The overall natural beauty of Alaska is undeniable anyway, but very few drives I have ever made compare with the beauty of this trek. Everywhere we looked we were surrounded by water, mountains, and wildlife.

While we didn’t spend much time in Indian, Steve and Janel live in a beautiful house just off of the highway. We got a kick out of them telling us that they regularly have bears wander through their neighborhood and sometimes right through their backyard. From Indian we headed two and a half hours north to rustic Talkeetna.

Talkeetna is known as the gateway to Denali National Park and would best be described as a gold miners outpost. The outpost is surrounded by three rivers (Talkeetna, Susitna, and and Little Susitna) and houses an airport where bush pilots commonly fly hikers to base camp at Mount McKinley.

We had a great time exploring the tourist shops, walking through historic Nagley’s Store, and we enjoyed ice cream at Shirley’s.

For dinner we ate outside at Denali Brewpub where the food was good and the scenery and ambiance was even better. We would also recommend eating at the Talkeetna Roadhouse, Mountain High Pizza & Pie, and the Flying Squirrel.

After dinner we walked to the town square where we enjoyed some live music from a band called Mushrooms & Banana’s. That night we stayed in a bed n breakfast that more resembled a camp ground. On a side note, we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of commercialization throughout the entire state. However, this forces you to plan ahead regarding finding places to spend the night – “Hotels.com” isn’t really a thing in the Alaskan wilderness. When driving, your best option might be to rent an RV. Many towns appeared to allow you to simply pull over on the side of the road to spend the evening. At any rate, in the the early evening at our bed and breakfast (just after dinner) we saw a moose that just wandered onto the grounds. This was easily one of the highlights of the trip for all of us – nothing really prepares you for just how large and majestic a moose is.

From Talkeetna we drove the two and a half hours north to Denali National Park.

Denali covers over six million acres of nearly untouched natural beauty. Everywhere we looked we saw snow covered mountain peaks, beautiful grass land, as well as rivers and waterfalls. Truly a natural paradise. Our only complaint was the overcast weather which didn’t allow us much of a view of Mount McKinley, North America’s tallest peak.

Upon entering the national park, and the 90 miles of roads through the pristine wilderness, we found it extremely unique. While most national parks have a paid entry, Denali had a sign, a welcome center, and as far as we know it was free to drive (roughly) ten miles into the park. There were numerous pullouts, hikes, and bike paths in the front of the park. We elected to hike the Savage River Loop Trail and absolutely loved it. We also hiked a portion of the McKinley Station Trail. While you could pay for an extended tour of the park via bus, which is advertised as an 8 hour bus ride through the Denali terrain, we elected not to push on. However when we left we did feel like we adequately experienced Denali National Park and found it to be every bit as beautiful as described.

That night we stayed at the Denali Park Village. It felt like a resort, grocery store, and restaurant all rolled in one, which was roughly 25 minutes south of the national park.

The Park Village was a beautiful place to stay and we enjoyed our dinner experience in the restaurant as well; I have never had a better caramelized brussel sprout in my life. However, the highlight came later that evening as I set my alarm to experience the daylight sky that is Alaska in June and July.

At nearly 2:00 am I walked down to the river – for a guy that is used to it being pitch black by 8:30 or 9:00 pm, this was quite the experience.

STADIUMS AND/OR SPORTING EVENTS: We didn’t see any games or events in Alaska. However, I did walk around the outside of Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks. This historic ballpark is the home of the Alaska Goldpanners – the stadium that has housed The Goldpanners (a prominent summer collegiate baseball team) since the 1960’s. Besides hosting hundreds of future MLB players, The Goldpanners gained national fame for hosting their Midnight Sun tournament; a baseball tournament that takes advantage of the fact the sun never sets in Fairbanks in mid July. Therefore, games are played around the clock.

ADVENTURE(S): The favorite adventure of our entire Alaska trip was the Kenjai Fjords Glacier Boat Tour in Seward. While the Kenjai Fjords Tour company offers four, five, six, and seven hour cruises… we selected the eight hour tour which included a salmon dinner on Fox Island.

When contemplating which cruise to select we felt like eight hours sounded like an incredibly long day and were unsure about that amount of time out on the water. However, we ultimately decided to go for it and the entire family was glad we did. The tour felt like it flew by and the meal was excellent. If time allows, I would highly recommend the extended tour. When we boarded in the morning the weather was overcast, drizzly, and it looked like a downpour was on the horizon. Even then we saw breathtaking sites including whales, birds, and what appeared to be never ending forests.

The cherry on top of the already beautiful tour was getting to experience the Holgate Glacier up close and personal.

Following our encounter with the glacier we pulled into Fox Island for dinner. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any more pristine, Fox Island took ‘beautiful’ to a whole other level. I place this island as being in the top 5 of the prettiest locations I have ever visited: Lake Louise in Banff National Park in Canada, Road to Hana in Maui, The Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, The Road to the Sun in Glacier National Park… and now Fox Island Alaska.

Dinner on the island was the last stop of the cruise and we soon returned to port. That night we stayed in downtown Seward at Hotel Seward. This place would best be described as a quaint, old fashioned hotel, located in the heart of downtown.

It was the perfect place to make our home base before venturing out around town. That night Jill and I explored downtown Seward, which has a population just under 3,000 people.

The following day we had the honor of watching Uncle Steve run the Mount Marathon Race. If not familiar, this race is around 3 1/2 miles long and starts in downtown Seward. What makes it unique is the fact runners race to the top of the mountain, roughly 3,000 feet above sea level, and then back.

My Uncle, who is 64 years old and has been competing in this race for over twenty years, finished near the top of his division.

Following the race we ventured down the street to Kenai Fjords National Park. While we readily admit the hike was no mountain race, we did hike just over a mile to the base of the Exit Glacier. Again the view and the natural beauty was as good as it gets.

I can only imagine how magnificent this glacier would have looked in all it’s glory, 30 to 40 years ago. As we hiked up the trail there were markers with a year attached documenting how far the glacier used to reach. It was an amazing timeline to see in person.

NOTABLE DESTINATIONS & STOPS: Any time we travel to a new location our goal is to see and experience as much of the state as possible. Specifically when planning our Alaskan trip, our first choice to accomplish our goal was a cruise and our second choice was to see the countryside via train. Due to a variety of COVID related issues, neither of our first two choices came to fruition and we were left to drive my Uncle’s 20+ year old pickup. While a luxury ride it was not, the 6-hour drive from Anchorage to the North Pole was filled with as many laughs of any trek we have ever made and we felt fortunate.

Our first stop in the North Pole, really our only stop, was the Santa Claus House.

For the previous 65 years this store has celebrated everything Christmas. Santa and Mrs. Claus are periodically available to hear your Christmas wish list and pose for family photos. Furthermore this is the most complete Christmas store I have ever seen.

The parking lot had a 40 foot tall Santa, his sled complete with toy bag, as well as a reindeer farm which housed all of Santa’s famous reindeer.

The highlight was being able to send typed letters from Santa to anyone in the world, directly from the North Pole. That afternoon we continued the Christmas magic as we checked into the Hotel North Pole.

Later that evening we made reservations for the Aurora Ice Bar which was located an hour outside of Fairbanks. The Ice Bar was built from over 1,000 tons of ice and the tour offers an Appletini to their guests that comes served in a handcrafted ice glass. Unfortunately, we got turned around in the Alaskan wilderness and by the time we arrived in the Chena Hot Springs, the Ice House was closed. From the North Pole we headed into Fairbanks where we spent a couple hours at Pioneer Park. It was the 4th of July so the park, which was made to commemorate early Alaskan history, had a festive vibe.

The girls enjoyed an ice cream cone, and I got a lot of mileage out of the free sun glass giveaway. It was a fun and unique way to celebrate the 4th of July.

Driving the 6 hours on highway 3 from Anchorage to Fairbanks you can’t help but witness many beautiful things; mountains, trees, rivers & wildlife just to name a few. You also see some odd places; such as a pull out restaurant, hotel, and grocery roughly 45 minutes outside of Fairbanks called Skinny Dicks!

• OUR LIST TO VISIT OR RETURN TO:
• Aurora Ice House
• Borealis Basecamp – Experience the Northern Lights from an igloo
• Explore the Kenai Peninsula
• Mendenhall Glacier
• Juneau