Our Trip to Alaska

I typically stick to quilting related things here, but after sharing about our trip to Alaska last month, I've gotten a lot of questions about where to go and what to do. I am by no means an expert, but I will gladly share the details of our trip! Hopefully I share some things that would be helpful if you're thinking about visiting Alaska one day!

Our Trip in 2019

If you've been around for a few years, you might remember our infamous trip back in 2019. I say "infamous" because... it was actually an amazing trip but it was slightly scarred by the great flood that was unknowingly happening in our house while we were away. heh. Thinking past that, we really had a fabulous time! I wanted to share about this trip because I think it's a really great option for people who want some of the planning done for them, or if you're on a tighter schedule.

We flew into Anchorage, rented a car and drove a few hours north to Denali National Park. We spent a few nights at the Princess Lodge, which had an amazing view! And for those few days, we just drove around the park (which was incredible) did some hiking and sleeping, haha

Then we drove back down to Anchorage and did a 7 day cruise, stopping in Skagway, Ketchikan, and Juneau. The best part about this cruise is that it was so scenic, and even went to a few glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park. I remember for that day, a park ranger came on board and did a live tour through the park over the intercom as we cruised through. We had a balcony room, so to was incredible to experience everything in our own private space!

As far as excursions go, we did one in Skagway and it was super fun! We rode a train up into Canada (just over the border) and then rode bikes back into town. It was a mostly downhill ride, so it wasn't hard.....but it was kind of terrifying, haha. My hands got tired from constantly squeezing the breaks, but the views were incredible! It was a fun way to see Alaska, for sure.

In Ketchikan, I think we just walked around town. We had previously considered doing a plane/helicopter tour here, but some people from the previous cruise on our ship sadly died in a plane accident doing a similar excursion, so I wasn't quite ready for that (& not sure if I ever will be!). 

In Juneau, we walked around downtown to all of the touristy shops. There are actually some really great restaurants and a little quilt shop too. We wanted to see more of Juneau, so we rented a car and drove almost as far as we could get. We ended up on Eagle Beach which was a lovely little park that I highly recommend visiting! Maybe bring a picnic and enjoy the views!

We visited the 2nd or 3rd week in May and we actually found it to be quite cold. I would bring lots of layers, especially if you are doing any excursions that are windy, like a small boat tour.

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Our Trip in 2022

Flash forward 3 years and we actually never thought that we would visit Alaska again. Being on the east coast, it just such a BIG trip to get up there; we saw that as a once-in-a-lifetime kind of vacation. However, when one of Peter's friends asked Peter to be his groomsman in his wedding in JUNEAU, we were so thrilled to have the opportunity to go back. 

Let me preface by saying that this was a really big trip for us. We didn't do any trips in 2020 or 2021, so we kind of wanted to go all out with this one. Definitely feel free to modify it to make it shorter or longer, but here is a list of the highlights:

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GIRDWOOD

We flew into Anchorage again for this trip, rented a car and drove about 45 minutes to Girdwood. This drive is SO scenic and is right along the water, so we kept having to stop and get out to take pictures and whatnot. We stayed in this AirBNB, which was really great. My only complaint is the skylights right above the bed with no shades...especially since there is only a few hours of darkness at night. Thankfully we were so tired that we didn't have any trouble sleeping, but definitely bring an eye mask with you if you are a light sleeper/sensitive to light.

I wasn't really sure what to expect in Girdwood, but we actually really enjoyed it a lot!

Things we did:

• Nordic Spa at the Alyeska Resort one of our favorite parts of the trip!
• Alyeska Aerial Tram - so cool
• Winner's Creek Trail beautiful river crossings and waterfalls. Check and see if the hand tram is open (it wasn't for us)
• Virgin Creek waterfall (super quick and easy trail and in a gorgeous enchanted-like forest)
• Drive to Portage Glacier
• Wildlife Conservation Center (though I think you could easily skip it!)
• Drove to Whittier just to see it...and there's not much to see. There is a really long tunnel that you have to pay a toll to go through, but I don't think you'd be missing anything if you left it off. 

Places we ate:

• the Bake Shop (get the sweet roll!)
• Hightower Pub
• Jack Sprat
• Girdwood brewing was nice and they also had foodtrucks

We only had 2 days in Girdwood, but it was memorable!

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SEWARD

From Girdwood, we took a 1.5 hour drive south to Seward and let me just preface that Seward was our favorite part! Girdwood felt kind of enchanted forest-y and Seward was enchanted costal....if that makes sense, haha. We stayed at the Resurrection Lodge , which was truly wonderful! If you are a light sleeper, I would definitely recommend a sound machine because the walls are thin. Here's what we did:

• Hiked to Exit Glacier (we did the Meadow's Trail plus a few other smaller ones)
• Did a 8 hour boat tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park for our anniversary. This was probably the highlight of Seward for me (between this and Caines Head). We saw orcha, otters, seals, sea lions, whales and some GORGEOUS scenery. We are so glad we brought extra layers because even though it was in the 60s in town, out on the waters it was FREEZING. It even started snowing at one point.
• We visited the Sea Life center, which was neat, but you could probably just leave that out unless you have small kids.
• Again, Caines Head was a definite highlight! Gorgeous views, but know that it is SUPER remote and you definitely want bear spray. This was such a memorable hike. Had to take a water taxi to get there, so you start out on a really gorgeous beach.
• Walking around downtown and along Waterfront park was so picturesque. We did that several times. 
• It was also fun to walk around the Harbor. There are some restaurants and the Kenai Fjords visitor center. Plus you can see people bringing in their fish, which was really interesting!

Places we ate:

• Seward Brewing - They have (probably) the best food in town. We ate there a lot, especially for dinners.
• Resurrection Art Coffee Shop (get the cinnamon rolls!)
• Lone Chicherone - probably Pete's favorite meal from the trip and favorite fish taco ever. 
• Porthole (breakfast sandwiches)
• Flamingo Lounge - for a "fancier" but not too fancy meal. We loved it!

We had 6 days in Seward, which was really a great amount of time! From Seward we drove about 2ish hours to Kenai. Honestly, I felt like we could've skipped Kenai, but we didn't really know what to expect! 

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KENAI

We were only in Kenai for 2.5 days and honestly that might've been too much, haha. There just wasn't a lot to do. 

• Russian Orthodox Church - We did a quick little visit to see what it was about. It was interesting to hear about their history and see some artifacts.
• Historic Cabins - This was a really interesting preservation of some historic cabins all in one little neighborhood.
• We walked on the beach out to the point (accessed through Cook Inlet Beach access)
• Ate at Brother's Cafe
• Brew602 is an old train that is converted into a coffee/ waffle shop. Highly recommend!

And that's pretty much it! haha. I think we could've probably just spent a day there or skipped it altogether. Maybe we just didn't know about the right things to do? But honestly it was nice to slow down for a few days. This is the AirBnB that we stayed at, which was a really cute little cabin right on the bluffs. 

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HOMER

We loved Homer...maybe not quite as much as Seward, but it's a quirky little fishing town....definitely a little more tourist-y but plenty of things to do. It felt like the opposite of Kenai. We had about 5 days in Homer and we mostly took it easy there as well. The house that we stayed in was awesome. Very spacious and it had a hot tub with an incredible view!

Things we did:

• walked around on the "Homer Spit" and peeked in a few of the different shops. 
• visited their winery
• walked the beach and saw a ton of bald eagles!
• did a 2 hour boat tour and saw puffin, otters and whales
• Pratt Museum had a really interesting collection of native and historical artifacts; I enjoyed this very much

Places we ate:

• Green Can - very good dinner spot
• Very Good Breakfast Co. - it was indeed a "very good" breakfast!
• Twisted Goat - I love me some goat cheese, so this was a really good dinner spot as well. 
• Swell Taco - YUM
• Wild Honey Bistro - We went here for breakfast one day and it was so yummy. Get the sweet crescent roll and lemon lavender cookies!

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Once our time was up in Homer, we made the 4.5 hour trek back to Anchorage. We had to leave around 3am to make our flight, but it was already light out, so the drive wasn't too bad. We saw TONS of moose (the only time we saw moose on the trip) and a porcupine. The drive was super scenic, especially once we got past Kenai. We stopped at the Bake Shop (again) in Girdwood along the way for breakfast. 

From here, we flew to Juneau, the state capital of Alaska, which was where our friends wedding was. Juneau is (mostly) land-locked, so the best and quickest way to get there is via plane. We wanted to do a boat ferry, but the schedule didn't line up with our timeframe. 

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 JUNEAU

Like I mentioned, we visited Juneau a few years ago, but it was a really short trip. We were excited to have a little bit more time here! We stayed at this AirBnb on Douglas Island, right across from Juneau. Read the reviews for this one (regarding noise), there might be better ones out there. We're pretty picky about noise levels, haha.

Things we did:

• The first part of Juneau was dedicated to wedding activities like the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The wedding reception was at the top of the Tram in downtown Juneau and it was breathtaking! I highly recommend taking a tram ride if you can. There is a restaurant at the top with hiking trials and such. 
• private whale watching tour with the wedding party - saw several whales and sea lions!
• packed a picnic and spent some time at Eagle Beach
• hiked Perseverance trial with the bride and groom. It took some perseverance, alright!
• Visited Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls
• Visited Savikko Park - this was the best spot for sunsets and watching bald eagles! You can also watch boats come and go and enjoy time exploring. This is close to the site of an old gold mine, so there are nearby old building and such  to explore with lots of trails. We visited this park 2 or 3 times!
• Driving out to the other end of Douglas island was really really nice, especially around sunset. 

Places we ate:

• We visited Amalga Distillery the last time we were in Juneau and we were so excited to go back! They have really yummy gin and cocktails.
• We also visited Alaska Brewing and they had some food trucks outside that we ate at 
• A local reached out to me and suggested Pel Meni, a spot for Russian Dumplings and they were so good. Very different from anything I've tried, but I'm so glad that I did!
• Sandpiper Cafe - for brunch
• Devil's Club Brewing - they're have really good food!
• V's Cellar - It was featured on Diners Drive-in's and Dives, so you know Peter HAD to go there! It's actually where the rehearsal dinner was, but we went the night before to scope it out. They have a really interesting Mexican/Asian fusion menu, we loved it!!
• Rookery Cafe - we ate here twice for breakfast and coffee. very good!

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Needless to say, we were exhausted after this trip! We played SO hard and it was SO worth it. If you're looking to go and make a shorter trip out of it, I would definitely consider Denali and/or Seward. I know there is a train that connects the two and many people make a trip out of that. Or, if you have 3 weeks like we did....this itinerary was really great! (Although, you might want to visit Homer first THEN Seward....either way, you'll have to back-track a little bit).

Another note about the weather. It was mostly in the 60s the entire trip. Girdwood and Seward were definitely more chilly, but that could've just been because of weather patterns. We visited June 8th- June 29th and I packed lots of sweatshirts/pullovers and pants. I only wore shorts maybe 2 or 3 times? Peter was in shorts practically the whole time because that's just him, haha. But I highly recommend bringing layers.

Another thing to note is that you cannot fly with bear spray. We bough some at the REI in Anchorage (which is super nice, by the way) right when we landed. We knew we were going to be doing a lot of hiking and we definitely wanted that with us. Thankfully we didn't have to use it, but it did give us some (slight) peace of mind. When we went back to the airport, we found someone who looked like they might be on a hiking trip and offered the unused bear spray to them. 

Oh! And I wasn't expecting to see so much wild lupine!! If you visit this time of year, you'll definitely see plenty of it...which was such a treat. :)

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Whew! That was a lot, wasn't it? I think that covers just about everything. Let me know if you have any other questions. If you're on IG, I have some video footage of our trip saved to highlights. :)

Safe travels!

Brittany