Review: Radiance Alaska Northbound - August 2015 plus DIY land

[Texasopa]

You never know about May weather, we cruised this past May and had 70 degree weather everyday and not a drop of rain.

[Daisy May]

I meant to say "hat" not bear "had". I guess my proofreading isn't what I thought. Sorry.

 

Sherry

[EMED2010]

Thank you for all of your review and pictures and tips. We had decided to take the Alaska cruise but you really made us want to go.

 

Thanks for the info on where you got the clothing. I just have one question. Where did you get the bear had? For some reason I just love that hat. I definitely need to get one. I may only be able to wear it on that cruise but it just really tickled me.

 

Sherry

 

It's a Siberian husky hat, not a bear:D. I ordered it from eBay last winter. I love wearing it in the winter when I walk my Siberian Husky.

[Daisy May]

Well obviously my perception of animals is right up there with my proofreading. But thanks for the info. Now I know where to look. It's still adorable, dog or bear.

 

Sherry

[gottagoacruzn]

Hey Texasopa, what part of Texas you live in? My dad grew up in Brownwood, he was an Aggie.

[EMED2010]

Tuesday, August 18, 2015 – Independence Mine / Talkeetna / Denali

And now back to our regularly scheduled review.

We got up and showered while Kenny made us a wonderful breakfast of eggs and reindeer sausage. We packed up to begin our journey to Denali with a few detours on the way. We were headed to Independence Mine State Historical Park. And it was raining again. Did you think I would say something different?

The scenery along the way to the mine was gorgeous, although what in Alaska isn’t?

They had an unmanned area to pay $5.00 to park and put in an envelope along with the standard outhouse type bathrooms.

[EMED2010]

Tuesday, August 18, 2015 – Independence Mine / Talkeetna / Denali

There were signs in front of all the buildings to tell you what everything was.

[EMED2010]

Tuesday, August 18, 2015 – Independence Mine / Talkeetna / Denali

I already knew when we went to the mine that I wanted to travel over the Hatcher Pass road through to Willow. Although it is a dirt road, it is well maintained and very scenic. I would have to recommend not missing it. We all loved this road.

When we arrived where this road meets the Parks Road in Willow, you could see all the fire damage and why the road was closed during that time.

[EMED2010]

Tuesday, August 18, 2015 – Independence Mine / Talkeetna / Denali

My plan was to have lunch in Talkeetna which is about a 20 minute detour off the Parks Road. I had always loved the show Northern Exposure and knew the town of Cicely was based off of Talkeetna so I definitely wanted to see this quirky little town.

We had lunch at the Wildflower Café. This is a place I would highly recommend. The food was delicious! The sun came out a bit while we were here and we were able to sit outside under umbrellas.

[EMED2010]

Tuesday, August 18, 2015 – Independence Mine / Talkeetna / Denali

After lunch, we did a little shopping, got some homemade ice cream and then headed back to Parks Road to continue to Denali.

We were hoping to be one of the 20 percent of people to see Denali. We did have three days to do so. Today, driving in; tomorrow in the park or Thursday driving back to Anchorage. Here is today’s view.

The views along the way were of course beautiful.

[EMED2010]

Tuesday, August 18, 2015 – Independence Mine / Talkeetna / Denali

We were staying for two nights at McKinley Creekside. I had booked a twin cabins which shared a front porch overlooking the creek, or so I thought. Apparently when you book online it does not necessarily link your reservations. So cabins 8/9 shared and 10/11 shared. We got 9 and Jennifer and Kenny got 11. We tried to get this corrected but they were booked. They said that cabin 8 would become available tomorrow and that they could move Jennifer & Kenny while we were in the park. We settled for that. By the time we checked in, it was around 6:30. I had wanted to go up to the park to get our shuttle tickets so we wouldn’t have to wait in line in the morning. We had tickets for the 7:30AM shuttle. The Parks road is under construction; in fact it was down to the dirt in some places. The construction was going on from 7:00PM to 7:00AM so we knew we would get stuck in it in the morning. We got to the Wilderness Access Center where you get the tickets and I picked them up. Then we went to Glitter Gulch for gas and to get supplies for our lunch in the morning. We got stuck in the traffic on the way back.

Once we were back, we unpacked and went to the McKinley Creekside Café for dinner. This was so convenient and the food was really good. They had halibut, salmon, steaks, pasta and homemade breads and desserts. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and are open at 6:00AM so you can eat before you head into the park.

Doug putting beer in the creek to cool them.

This was taken around 10:15PM.

[EMED2010]

Wednesday, August 19, 2015 – Denali

Today was our Denali National Park day. I had booked online the 7:30AM Eielson Shuttle. I had debated with myself if I should book Wonder Lake on the off chance Denali was visible. We will see later if I made a good decision or not.

I tossed and turned from around 5:00AM. I was worried I wouldn’t hear my alarm and we would miss the shuttle. I was really looking forward to going into the park. It was my only chance now for grizzly bears. I was up at 5:30 and showered. Doug got up at 5:50 because he was going to get coffee and a breakfast sandwich. I told him to check to make sure Jennifer & Kenny were awake. It was a good thing I did. Jennifer had her alarm on PM instead of AM. Maybe my subconscious knew this! All was good and we were on the road by 6:20 which was what I wanted. We did have to sit in traffic because they were working until 7:00AM but we still got there in plenty of time.

We stood in line outside at the bus depot which was under cover. That was a good thing because, let’s say it together, “It was raining”. The reason I got there early was to make sure I got to sit where I wanted. I had read to sit near the front if you want to hear the driver (which I did). I knew the front row had the tire hump so I didn’t want that. The other thing I had read that I think is a great idea is if you are traveling in a group, to sit on opposite sides of the bus. This way no matter which side an animal is on, you are climbing over your own people and not strangers to take pictures. This worked out really well.

The first wildlife to be spotted was ptarmigan!

We drove for about an hour after that seeing no wildlife. I was really worried I would never see a bear. Then it happened!!!!

After that, I completely relaxed. The bus windows got really dirty so it was hard trying to spot the wildlife. Another good thing about sitting in the front is that you can take shots out the front of the bus.

[EMED2010]

Wednesday, August 19, 2015 – Denali

I can understand now why they don’t want people driving themselves further into the park.

Dall Sheep. Sorry for the blurriness but they were far away.

Grizzly number two!

[Texasopa]

Hey Texasopa, what part of Texas you live in? My dad grew up in Brownwood, he was an Aggie.

 

Arlington, between Dallas and Fort Worth, home of the Dallas Cowboy's and the Texas Rangers...

Edited September 6, 2015 by Texasopa

[EMED2010]

Wednesday, August 19, 2015 – Denali

Grizzly number three was very far out and he gets blurry when zoomed.

A moose! He was pretty far away as well.

Some more sheep.

[EMED2010]

Wednesday, August 19, 2015 – Denali

We arrived at Eielson Visitor Center. It was really cold there. Everything I had read said that you had an excellent view of Denali and the Alaska Range. This is what we saw.

Yep! Not only didn’t we see Denali, we didn’t see any of the mountains. I was really glad I hadn’t purchased the Wonder Lake ticket.

We went inside and sat at a table and ate our lunch because it was too cold and rainy to be outside and there was nothing to see anyway. As a side note, at every stop there are squeegees to clean the bus windows with, plus your driver has roles of paper towels and he gives them to you to clean the inside windows of condensation. We used all of this at every stop because the windows got filthy.

Eieleson was our turnaround point and we began the journey back. Believe it or not, the clouds started lifting as we headed back.

Arctic ground squirrel.

Bear number four.

And our final bear. Not too bad, five grizzlies!

Caribou.

[EMED2010]

Wednesday, August 19, 2015 – Denali

Fall is starting to arrive here. You can see a sprinkling of color.

We arrived back at the visitor center around 5:00PM, tired but happy. Our trip was ending on such a good note. We headed back to McKinley Creekside and started getting our bags organized for our flight home tomorrow. We had dinner again at the Café and again it was very good. You can eat here even if you don’t stay here so I would definitely recommend it.

We sat around and had some wine and played some cards before bed.

[EMED2010]

Thursday, August 20, 2015 – Anchorage then flying home

Well, this was it. Our last morning in Alaska. We headed over to the café for breakfast before heading out. I have to post a picture of their insane cinnamon buns. Doug and I split one of these on the shuttle bus yesterday. Boy was it messy! But really, really good!

We loaded the van and heading down the road for Anchorage. Today was a beautiful sunny day. And look who came out to greet us and say goodbye. Denali!

What a way to end our journey. We got into Anchorage and we did see a mother moose and calf on the side of the highway. I snapped a picture as we passed but it’s blurry. We did turn around and go back but by the time we did, they were gone.

We had a late lunch at Simon and Seafort’s in Anchorage. It was good and had a nice view overlooking the water. After, we still had a little time to spare because our flight was not until 8:00PM so we drove back down the Turnagain Arm to Beluga Point. It looked much better today than the first day we saw it.

[EMED2010]

Thursday, August 20, 2015 – Anchorage then flying home

We dropped our extremely dirty rental car back at Hertz. Jennifer and I posted the following picture on Facebook with the caption “We can’t “bear” to leave Alaska!”

We all sat together at a sports bar until it was time to head for our gates. We had separate flights home. We were going to Pennsylvania and they were going to Virginia.

This trip was more than I imagined it could be. I still can’t wrap my head around everything we saw and did. The sights, the smells and the sounds of nature were all so overwhelming that it is hard to describe. I hope my review gave a little insight as to what to expect but just know that the pictures don’t do it justice. I know that we will definitely return. There are so many more things that I want to do there. I can understand how so many people of this forum are repeat visitors. I hope all of you who are planning your trips for next year enjoy yourselves as much as we did.

Linda

[chumley]

Linda,

 

That was an AWESOME review! So happy you had a wonderful trip. Your enthusiasm comes shining through. I can tell you're re-living each moment again as you write it.

 

Trips don't get better than that one!

 

Thanks again for sharing.

 

Leslie

[DKNYC]

Thanks so much Linda! Glad you got to see Denali and Grizzlies. Hope we will be fortunate as well. Lots of good info in your review. This is what Cruise critic is for.😀

Denise

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[EMED2010]

Linda,

 

That was an AWESOME review! So happy you had a wonderful trip. Your enthusiasm comes shining through. I can tell you're re-living each moment again as you write it.

 

Trips don't get better than that one!

 

Thanks again for sharing.

 

Leslie

 

Thanks! Writing the review made the trip come alive again. Now I will be spending the next few weeks of any spare time making an album on Shutterfly. Since I have close to 3000 pictures, it will really be a project!

[mimmy52]

Great review and great pictures! I enjoyed it very much.

[Daisy May]

Thank you so much. We are so ready to go now. The Alaska Tourism Board (if there is such a thing) should hire you.

 

Sherry

[EMED2010]

Thanks so much Linda! Glad you got to see Denali and Grizzlies. Hope we will be fortunate as well. Lots of good info in your review. This is what Cruise critic is for.😀

Denise

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it it and found it helpful. I lived on these boards prior to the trip waiting for reviews to pop up.:)