We decided to take the 11-hour shuttle bus ride through Denali National Park to Wonder Lake. We woke up early to board the 07:15 shuttle. While the shuttle was technically not a tour bus, the driver told us about the park during the drive. He also stopped the bus whenever something interesting came into view (e.g. Mt. McKinley, animals) to let passengers take photos. The park service says that only about 30% of visitors to the park get to see Mt. McKinley as it is often obscured by clouds. Luckily, we were in that 30% and got a mostly unobstructed view in the morning and only a small amount of cloud cover later in the day. During the drive, we saw a great deal of wildlife, including some caribou, lots of ground squirrels, a golden eagle, two red foxes, a mama grizzly and two cubs, and a lone grizzly bear. Wonder Lake wasn’t that wonderful (lots of mosquitos) and, in retrospect, I’d say that Eielson Visitor Center was the last worthwhile stop.

After our shuttle ride, we headed to Healy to pick up dinner. Our first choice, 49th State Brewery, was full, so we headed to Rose’s Cafe, which serves some really delicious breakfast food and sandwiches. Tonight, we’re staying in an Iceworm room, which seems much nicer and quieter than Yanert, but lacks WiFi.

After a lovely breakfast, we headed to the Wal-Mart in Wasilla.  We picked up some essentials (more ice, beef jerky, plastic utensils) and bought some food at McDonald’s for lunch even though we were still full from breakfast.

Valerie consulted the gigantic Milepost we have been lugging around and found Iditarod HQ was only a few miles away so we decided to make a stop there. The puppies were fantastically cute! Valerie held one and Bryon enjoyed petting them and distracting them from their naps. We also watched some people ride around on a wheeled sled pulled by a full team of dogs and were able to pet the dogs. After quickly browsing the gift shop we headed back toward the freeway.

Even though we were still full from breakfast and still had the McDonald’s food we’d bought, we also decided to pick up some food from Arby’s due to Valerie’s fear of running out of food in Denali. We are planning to take an 11 hour bus ride tomorrow into the park where there’s no food available at all for purchase (contrast this with Canadian national parks like Banff and Jasper which have entire towns in them). We ended up purchasing 6 Jr. Roast Beef sandwiches for the upcoming tour.

Despite stopping by a Mt. McKinley viewpoint on our drive to the park, we failed to see its famed peak due to the cloud cover. Maybe we’ll have better luck tomorrow. We eventually arrived at the hostel and checked into our Yanert room which is typically a girls dormitory but since we have rented out the whole thing Bryon can stay there too. Tomorrow we will change to one of the Iceworm rooms.

After checking in we drove the 13 miles to the Wilderness Access Center to pick up our bus tickets for tomorrow. We watched an interesting short video on the history of the park, and stopped by 229 Park, the most highly rated restaurant in the Denali area on TripAdvisor. We had a quick dinner at the bar (since the earliest time we could get a table was 8:45pm), and went back to the hostel.

Tonight will be an early night since our tour begins bright and early tomorrow at 7:15am.

Today marks our departure from Homer and the Kenai Peninsula. As we headed out, we finally saw our first wild moose waltzing his way across downtown Homer! While we stared all agog, the locals just continued on their way not even giving the moose a second glance.

Valerie realized that the Islands & Oceans Visitor Center was open after all so we decided to stop in.  This is the first visitor’s center we’ve seen that was run by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and we could immediately tell this was different from a typical visitor’s center (and much better funded!).  They had elaborate displays on fish, oceans, birds, and wildlife. I wish we had known and stopped in earlier, but I’m glad we did go in before we left. They even advertised free tide pooling, but unfortunately it was for Wednesday, the day we had to be at Denali. We did take the time to hike a short path from the visitor’s center and realized that it went right be our favorite bakery in Homer (Two Sisters Bakery) and took the opportunity to go for the 3rd time in 4 days.  We finally managed to get one of the famous sticky buns, and augmented it with a cinnamon bun and scone. Yum! Afterwards we started our long journey north.

When we got to Soldotna, Valerie discovered that the town has erected “fish walks” alongside the river for observing fish, so we decided to stop by the visitor’s center for a look.  Though it was a little drizzly, we did see 2 fisherman trying to catch salmon.  Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like they were having any better luck than we were trying to see fish.  Even though we didn’t see fish, the fish walk was still an excellent way to get up close to see the world famous Kenai river.  In addition, when we went into the visitor center, we actually got to see the stuffed skin of the largest king salmon ever caught!  It was rather large and impressive, and it was caught in the Kenai river.  We saw a few other fish models and a stuffed wolverine and continued on our journey.

When we got to Cooper Landing we decided to break for a hike.  A couple we had met at the B&B had said that they did the Cooper Landing waterfall hike and actually saw a mother bear fishing for salmon with her cub.  We asked the employee there if there were any fish to view and he encourage us to take the 3 hour hike with the promise that the fish were there and jumping.

We ended up doing the hike even though we were pretty behind schedule due to our slow start in the morning.  At the end of the hike we were rewarded with an excellent view of the waterfall and countless salmon trying (futilely, it seemed) to jump up it!  It seemed like 99% of the salmon were not able to get up the waterfall, so I’m unsure if it was even possible, or how their forefathers (fore-salmon?) had actually made it to the spawning area.  It was still a great experience since we did finally see salmon in the river. Unfortunately, no bear this time. Maybe next time we’ll bring some chairs and just park there for the day. We hiked back to the car and continued on our journey toward Girdwood, where we’d decided to stay for the night at the Alyeska hostel.  Unfortunately we found out when we got there that there weren’t any rooms left.  In addition, the Alyeska tram we had planned to take wasn’t in operation! That’s a double Alyeska fail for us. It was the first time we hadn’t made any reservations and tried to wing it. Fortunately for us, when Valerie called a B&B in Wasilla (our other choice of lodging), they actually answered the phone and were able to take us in with very short notice.

Around 20:30, we arrived in Wasilla at the Pioneer Ridge B&B and were shown to the rustic cabin we had booked. The cabin had electricity, but no running water and no heater. There was a wood stove which we were shown how to use, and we attempted to get the wood to light. After many fits and starts, we did finally get a good fire going and then went into the main house to use the restroom and shower facilities. Normally this isn’t a big deal, but it happened to be pouring rain that night so it became kind of a pain going back and forth. The facilities were very nice and clean though, and the cabin was very cute and fun to stay in so it was still worthwhile.

Today, we took a water taxi to the other side of the bay so we could hike to Grewingk Glacier Lake in Kachemak Bay State Park. We hiked the 2.2 mile Glacier Lake Trail from Rusty’s Beach to the lake. The glacier flows right into the lake and you can see chunks of ice floating around. It’s an impressive sight, but we couldn’t help but compare it to the much more spectacular glacial lagoon in Iceland. After a quick lunch, we hiked back to the saddle trail to meet our water taxi for the return trip. Valerie was cold after the hike, so we stopped by Two Sisters Bakery for some hearty soup.

Tomorrow, we’re headed north toward Denali National Park. Since it’s a long drive to Denali, we’ll probably break the drive into two segments and spend the night in Portage or Wasilla.

Today, we went on an all-day hike of Peterson Bay organized by the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. Our guides Caitlin and Rebecca were incredibly knowledgable about the area and the local flora and fauna. After a brief lunch stop at China Poot Beach, Valerie was excited to visit some tide pools, which are teeming with an almost unbelievable amount of life. On our way back from the tide pools, Valerie saw a black bear running away from us. This was our first (and hopefully last) on-foot encounter with a wild bear.

For dinner, we ate at AJ’s Steakhouse in Old Town. It was nice to take a break from seafood and the food and service were excellent.

Valerie’s parents have been looking for smoked salmon this entire trip. Fortunately, one of the fish shops in Seward pointed us to T-N-T Custom Smoke & Processing near Exit Glacier Road. We had stopped by T-N-T a couple days ago and were very happy with the high quality and relatively low price of their smoked salmon. Unfortunately, at the time, they didn’t have any cans of smoked salmon in stock. Luckily, they found some for us and we stopped by in the morning and picked up several cans and a few vacuum-sealed packages of smoked fish.

Afterward, we packed up the rental car, dumped the RV for the last time, said our goodbyes, and split up from Valerie’s parents. We ate lunch at Chinooks at the small boat harbor before leaving town. Their fish was delicious.

A couple days ago, we stopped at the Safeway in Seward and I couldn’t help but ogle the baked goods, but Valerie convinced me not to buy any. Later, Valerie discovered online that the baked goods at the Seward Safeway are better than an average Safeway, so we went back and loaded up for our drive to Homer.

We’re staying at the Majestic View Bed & Breakfast up the hill in Homer. It’s a bit of a drive up the hill from Old Town Homer or Homer Spit, but offers great views of the bay and the spit.

For dinner, we ate at Two Sisters Bakery in Old Town. Their kimchi pancake (made with homemade kimchi) was surprisingly tasty. Unfortunately, they were out of their famous sticky buns. We’ll need to come back another day.

In the morning, Valerie’s parents boarded a cruise of the Kenai Fjords. Valerie and I slept in and then couldn’t decide what to do. At the last minute, Valerie decided that she too wanted to take a cruise, and we quickly walked to the small boat harbor and boarded a shorter cruise of Resurrection Bay. During the cruise, we saw a few glaciers, some orcas, a humpback whale, and many birds, including a couple eagles. (Valerie says she saw a flying puffin.) At the outer edge of the bay, the water was very choppy and the boat rocked enough to knock all of the stuff off of our table. Overall, I think the cruise of Prince William Sound was more enjoyable because of the calmer waters.

We returned to port about an hour before Valerie’s parents. Their cruise was much more rocky than ours and Valerie’s mom became quite seasick. Tomorrow, Valerie and I are splitting up from Valerie’s parents. They are driving the RV to Anchorage to return it to Great Alaskan Holidays while we will be driving the rental car west to Homer.

Today, we visited to Exit Glacier in the Kenai Fjords National Park. Exit Glacier is the only part of the park publicly accessible by road. After listening to a brief historical talk by one of the rangers, we took a hike up to the edge of the glacier. Due to safety concerns, we were not allowed to walk up to the glacier’s edge, but rather to a fence about 70 feet away. As we approached the fence, a very friendly park volunteer talked about the glacier and how it has changed during his lifetime.

After our hike, we drove back to Seward and ate a late lunch at Ray’s Waterfront near the small boat harbor. Originally, we planned to visit the Alaska SeaLife Center earlier in the day, but Valerie’s dad discovered that admission was half-off after 8pm, so we rested in the RV until the appointed time. The Alaska SeaLife Center was a great opportunity to see the marine animals close up. Valerie really liked the sea bird exhibit (mostly because of the puffins). The exhibit had both an above ground and below ground viewing area so she could watch the puffins waddle on land and dive below the surface of the water. While Valerie was looking at puffins, I admired some harbor seals that were napping in their enclosure.

In the morning, we drove the car to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center just a few miles from our campsite in Portage. Visitors can either walk or drive around the center. During our walk, we saw musk oxen, bison, elk, moose, a lynx, a porcupine, a black bear, and three brown bears. It was interesting to be able to see these animals up close without them being afraid and running away from us (as they might in the wild).

After a quick lunch of tuna sandwiches, we drove to Seward, AK. We are camping at the Resurrection Bay beachfront campground operated by the city of Seward. The site offers water and electrical hookups, with a dump station available offsite. Unfortunately, many of the camp sites are sloped downward toward the bay, making it difficult to level an RV. After several unsuccessful and one successful leveling attempt, we walked to the harbor front to scope out local restaurants that we could eat lunch at tomorrow.

Today, we took a boat cruise of Prince William Sound to see glaciers! We left the RV at the campground and drove the rental car to Whittier, AK. The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel from Portage to Whittier is only open 15 minutes in each direction per hour and costs $12 for cars and $35 for RVs 28 feet or longer. After making our way through the tunnel, we parked the car, checked in for our cruise, and walked around Whittier until boarding time. Whittier is a small town, so walking around the harbor front only took about half an hour.

The cruise with Major Marine Tours was great. It was a beautiful day with clear skies and we viewed several glaciers (although sadly no glacier calving). The onboard ranger was very knowledgable and the $19/person prime rib and salmon buffet was excellent. After the tour, we were tired so we headed back to the RV park to rest. We might stop by the nearby wildlife center or Forest Service visitor center tomorrow morning before heading to Seward.