Alaska?
I was out in the garden in July when a text alert popped up from one of our travel sites: round trip airfare to Anchorage, out of our own little Bradley airport, for about $350. Pete pulled into the driveway a few minutes later, home from golf, and I asked him straight out — do we want to go to Alaska? One month later we landed in Anchorage, ready to spend two weeks finding out.
We didn’t try to see all of Alaska, because nobody sees all of Alaska in two weeks. Instead we picked our favorites: Seward and Kenai Fjords National Park, Homer and Kachemak Bay State Park, Girdwood, Talkeetna and the Denali parks, and the Matanuska Glacier out in the Sutton-Alpine region. It turned out to be exactly enough to fill two weeks with views, hikes, and more wildlife than we could have imagined.
Girdwood and the Road to Seward
After an overnight in Anchorage, we got up early for the scenic drive down the Seward Highway toward Kenai Fjords. We stopped in Girdwood for lunch at the brewery there — delicious — and then pulled in at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, where we saw every Alaskan animal except a polar bear. The animals there are all rescues, orphaned or injured and then cared for in a large, natural setting, which meant we got to see them up close in a way you never could in the wild. We rolled into Seward in time for a good dinner and an early bedtime, because the next day started early too.
Kenai Fjords by Boat
We were down at the marina at dawn for our cruise into the fjords — almost nine hours out on the water. At the end, one of the captains held up a map and pointed out everywhere we’d seen wildlife that day: sea otters, orcas, humpback whales, seals, sea lions, puffins, dolphins, a coastal bear, and birds without end, including a bald eagle. The wildlife alone would have made the day, but then the clouds broke and the sun came out and lit up the glaciers in this glittering blue we hadn’t expected. One glacier was calving fast — chunks the size of houses crashing into the water while we watched.
Back on land we wandered the shops along the bay and had another great dinner, then slept hard to get ready for a full day hiking to Exit Glacier — in the rain. By afternoon we were in mud past the tops of our boots, and at one particularly memorable point, there was nothing to do but go down flat, face first, into it. It makes a good story now. That night, laundry was the only thing on either of our minds.
Homer, Skilak Lake, and No Cruise Ships
The drive from Seward to Homer gave us time for a hike out to Skilak Lake, where a mother black bear and her two cubs ambled along right beside the road. Homer itself is a small coastal village with, refreshingly, no cruise ships. We dropped our bags and headed straight down to the boat ramps for an evening ride out to The Saltry, a wonderful little restaurant on Halibut Cove that you can only reach by boat — and once you’re there, you stay until the boat comes back, about four hours later. We ate well, then walked miles along the boardwalk afterward, and still had daylight when we left at 9 pm. Perfection.
Kachemak Bay and Glacier Lake
The next morning we met Forrest, a water taxi captain originally from Florida who, small world, had hiked the Appalachian Trail through our own town ten years ago. He took us across Kachemak Bay State Park, where we spent the whole day hiking to Glacier Lake — a lake with icebergs floating right in front of the receding glacier that made them.
On to Talkeetna
We left Homer the next morning in pouring rain, which was fine by us. We had podcasts queued up and a Spotify playlist ready for the long drive to Talkeetna, and arrived just in time for dinner as the rain gave way to sun and, somewhere along the way, a double rainbow.
Off to Denali, Matanuska Glacier, and ending in Girdwood for week 2.
Pete & Lori's Retirement adventures 