Alaska Trip Report – July 5-20 – Self Guided Land Tour followed by 7 day cruise

[restes]

These message boards helped me so much in planning and budgeting for our trip that I wanted to share what we ended up doing and also give a rough idea of how much things cost.

 

Participants – Family of 4 - myself (49), husband (56), daughter, (18), and son (14)

 

 

Day 1 – July 5 – Flew from Austin, TX to Anchorage on Jet Blue ($278 per person, purchased 3 months in advance). Picked up our Nissan Pathfinder at the Anchorage airport from Alamo ($671, including all fees and taxes, for 6 days) and drove to Homewood Suites (2 queens and a sofabed, $201.10 a night, including all fees and taxes).

 

Day 2 – July 6 – Slept in a bit, then went to TGI Friday’s for lunch in Anchorage. Went to Super Wal-Mart and bought a small ice chest, a few bottled waters and sodas, ice, and some snacks. Drove to Denali NP, with a few bathroom stops and one wildlife stop to watch a moose on the side of the road munching on tree leaves. Arrived at Denali and checked into Denali Bluffs Hotel ($117 per night including all fees and taxes, but used toursaver coupon to get this rate). Hotel was fine, but parking was awful. We circled all 3 parking lots for 30 minutes one night before we ended up “creating” our own spot. Went to the Wilderness Access Center to pick up our tickets in advance for the Wonder Lake shuttle. Drove to Healy and had dinner at the Black Diamond Grill. Everyone liked what they ordered. This was our first experience with expensive food in Alaska, but at least it was good.

 

Day 3 – July 7 – Woke up early (early for us, anyway) and went to Subway in Glitter Gulch to order our sandwiches to take with us on the shuttle ride. After getting our sandwiches, walked down to the Black Bear Coffee house for coffee and a quick breakfast. Drove to the Wilderness Access Center and boarded our 9:15 shuttle to Wonder Lake ($56 per person, but 14 yr. old was free). I found the seats to be fairly comfortable for a school bus. We also brought along our snacks and drinks that we had purchased the day before, and I was glad we did. Our driver was very informative and had a good eye for the wildlife. We also had several passengers on the bus who spotted things quickly. Highlight of the trip was when we spotted a mother grizzly bear and her two cubs eating in an open are not far from the road. We watched them for a quite a while and they eventually crossed the road right in front of us and then walked alongside our bus before they disappeared into the trees on the other side of the road. Everyone got a great view. It was so exciting for all of us. After seeing the grizzlies, we saw several more bears (further away), caribou, moose, sheep, eagles, ptarmigans, and ground squirrels. The bus ride was 11 hours but did not seem that long at all. We took some short hikes at the Eielson stop, and also Wonder Lake, so that helped us stretch our legs a bit. I would happily do this 11 hour ride again. After the shuttle ride, we drove to Healy and had dinner at the 49th State Brewing Company. This was a happening place! I think everyone visiting Denali was having dinner there. We even saw several of our fellow shuttle riders there. The food was good and the atmosphere was festive. Filled up the SUV with gas in Healy ($4.29 a gallon).

 

Day 4 – July 8 – Slept in a bit, then checked out of the hotel and drove to Glitter Gulch to buy a few things. Bought a t-shirt, a hoodie, some knitted caps and some wool socks that were on clearance. Prices were pretty decent. I bought more than I thought I would due to the low prices. Had a late breakfast at the Salmon Bake, we all thought the food was very good. Drove to Anchorage and stopped at Target to purchase a camera to replace the one that got dropped in the toilet at the Toklat rest stop in Denali (all those grizzly pictures went down the toilet too :mad: ). Ate at the Moose’s Tooth in Anchorage, the pizza was excellent! Drove from Anchorage to Seward and checked into the Havenwood Guest House (http://www.havenwoodak.com/, $169 per night, plus tax). We loved staying at this guest house, a great place to stay as long as you have a car.

 

Day 5 – July 9 – Woke up and ate breakfast at the guest house (a few different kinds of cereal and milk were provided). Spent the morning at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward ($10 per person using toursaver coupons). We enjoyed our time there and attended one of the talks about their marine mammal research, very informative. Had lunch at Alaska Nellie’s Roadhouse, loved their Rockfish fish & chips. Drove out to Exit Glacier and hiked to the glacier. Only an hour before we arrived, a grizzly bear had been in the area and was stalking a mother moose and her two calves. An older man inadvertently got too close to the bear and the bear started chasing him. The man was able to seek cover by ducking behind a tree, and fortunately the bear kept going and did not follow him behind the tree. The park rangers were pretty disturbed by what had happened and were being very vigilant that day. I never saw the bear but was hoping to catch sight of the mama moose and her calves. After our Exit Glacier visit, ate another excellent dinner at the Apollo (Greek & Italian) Restaurant in downtown Seward.

 

Day 6 – July 10 – Had breakfast at the guest house, with some added fruit that we bought at the Safeway in Seward. Drove to the small boat harbor for our 7.5 hour Kenai Fjords National Park tour ($79.50 per person with Alaska toursaver coupon). We also paid the extra $19.99 per person for the salmon and prime rib buffet, plus dessert bar. We felt it was worth it (for Alaska prices anyway). We loved this trip. We were able to see sea otters, whales (both humpbacks and orcas), eagles, sea lions, seals, and glaciers calving. It was a great day. After the boat tour, we returned to Alaska Nellie’s Roadhouse for dinner and then went back to the guest house to do laundry (washer, dryer, and soap provided!) to prepare for our 7 day cruise.

 

Day 7 – July 11 – Slept in a bit, had breakfast at the guest house, packed and loaded the car for our drive back to Anchorage. Drove to Anchorage, had a quick lunch at Dairy Queen, filled up the car with gas, and headed to the airport. Turned in the car at the airport and then walked to the baggage claim area to find the Princess representative so that we could check in for the Princess shuttle from Anchorage to Whittier. Rode the shuttle from Anchorage to Whittier and then boarded the Island Princess.

 

I asked my kids (both teenagers) what their favorite parts of the trip were. Both said they loved the shuttle ride into Denali the most, with the Kenai Fjords boat tour as a close 2nd.

 

I will write the cruise part of my review in a separate post.

[pmjnh]

Nice report. We are still on our land tour following our Princess cruise on Coral Princess. We just left Havenwood Guest House this morning after spending 3 days. LOVED it there! All the comforts of home and it set the bar high for other accommodations. That is quite the Exit Glacier story . We were there Saturday in the rain. Our Kenai Fjords Northwestern tour was a wash..they refunded our money due to high seas and rough conditions. We tried again this morning to go before leaving for our next destination, but visibility was very low and it was still raining, so we opted out. I am really disappointed that we missed the trip but what can you do.

Hope you had good weather on your cruise! I will be interested to hear about it. I am still working on my trip reports but we are flying home Wednesday and I will resume writing.

[Keith1010]

Welcome home. Excellent trip report and thank you for writing it and sharing it with all of us.

 

Keith

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home.

 

Land portion sounds great.

 

Sorry about losing all your Moose pictures.