Making Memories in Alaska Day 1 and 2: Anchorage Aweigh and Let's Dilly Dally Through Denali

 

Day 1: Anchorage Aweigh and Denali We Come!

What a wild and crazy 2 days. Between jet lag and our Rahn way of trying to pack as much into one day as possible, we are having so much fun and simultaneously exhausted...in a good way!

We arrived in Anchorage 1 hour late at close to midnight on Wednesday night, found our airport shuttle and settled into our airport hotel for one night. Upon arrival  at midnight, it was still very light outside which due to how exhausted we were, it didn't feel right,

We knew the next day would be a full day of making our way to Denali from Anchorage, which, on a good day, is about a 6 hour drive. Through my research I found that there are basically 4 main roads in the area that we are driving through and all of the road construction is done in the summer months due to the extended daylight and the lack of snow. So...I read countless warnings that you needed to plan an extra hour or two for everywhere you were going because the 2 lane roads would be one lane with pilot cars in many locations. They were right...

We got our rental car on Thursday and were off! 

Our first planned stop was a cute little town, Talkeetna. It is billed as one of the best spots to view Denali (on a clear day) and a "quintessential small Alaskan town. Well, the first was a big failure! We had rain and low lying clouds from the time we left Anchorage till about 20 minuters from our VRBO outside Denali national park (about 7 hours of driving time).

If you look real close, in the center of the picture, you can see a very tall mountain hidden behind the clouds

Even in the rain, Talkeetna didn't disappoint as a true Alaskan town. It was adorable and probably even better in dry weather.

We found a parking spot and at at a cute little "purple pizza house," Mountain High Pizza Pie. Don had his first reindeer pizza and we all appreciated the food and fun environment.

We then explored a few of the shops in the town, including Nagley's Store. This town was known in the 1800s through 1916 for gold silver mining and an exploration stop en route to summit Denali. Many of the original buildings are still there.

After exploring Talkeetna in the rain and having a great lunch, we got back on the road. We had about 2 hours left to get to our home for the next 2 nights.

We arrived at around 6:30 pm and had an 8:00 pm dinner reservation about 10 miles down the road.  I researched and found a cute VRBO with two master suites that was perfect for the 4 of us. We checked in with Katie back in Virginia, quickly unpacked and then headed out to dinner. 

Dinner took a very long time and we were all still on Virginia time, so very tired. We finally got back to the house close to 10:00 pm and headed to bed, even though the sun was still shining. 

The house has blackout blinds and light still got in, so I was able to use my eye mask that I purchased for just this purpose.

Day 2: Let's Dilly Dally Through Denali

Friday was going to be our only day in Denali, so we made the most of it. Due to a landslide and construction, the one road in and out of the park is closed from mile 43 on you can't get close to Denali mountain at all. You can only hope to see it in the distance. Inside the park, personal vehicles can only go to mile 12 and if you want to go further, you have to buy a ticket on the bus. 

We chose to ride the bus as far as we could, so we had tickets for an 8:30 am departure from the Denali Bus Depot and had to find breakfast before. 

I was able to get us breakfast reservations at the Holland Cruise Mckinley Lodge restaurant (right next door to the park). Many of the cruise lines have "Lodges" here that are part of their Land/Sea Alaskan adventures. Breakfast was delicious and we were off to catch our 8:30 transit bus that will take us into the park all the way to mile 43. 

in the gift shop, while waiting for our bus

waiting for the bus

The sun came out, our bus showed up and we were off for a 6 hour adventure to mile 43 of Denali National Park.

If you look hard, you can see snow covered Denali in the back center of this photo.

 We got out at East Fork for awhile and saw some beautiful views.

We then got back on the bus to head back to the bus depot and decided that we would get off at mile 12 and do the Savage River hike.

Denali has, what they call, the Big 5 animals in the park - moose, bear, caribou, Dall sheep, and wolves. We saw 4 of the 5 on our bus trip. 

A moose and her baby along the side of the road:

A caribou just wandering in the middle of the road for quite a while.

A sow bear and her 3 cubs up in the mountains and some Dall sheep resting up higher in the mountains. 

We got dropped off at the Savage River towards the end of the bus ride and did a two mile  hike along a beautiful river. There were so many different wildflowers and the sun was out with a bright blue sky. 

After the Savage River trail, we headed back to the visitor center and got our car to head back to the house and rest before dinner. Upon turning into the neighborhood, we found these two guys right on the side of the road in the neighborhood. 

We went to dinner at 49th State Brewing and had a great meal and tried a few new beverages. It was a perfect ending to a great day!!

Meanwhile, back in Virginia...Katie and Sonny are becoming best buddies as she shuttles him back and forth to and from daycare every day, while she works. 

Stay tuned for Day 3! 

We head back towards Anchorage and turn left to head to Palmer for lunch and we end in Glacier View, Alaska for our next adventure and our new home for one night.

Making Memories in Alaska Day 3:
Glaciers and Glamping Get us Grooving

It's always...

Seldom A Dull Moment with the Rahns!

Coming Soon...13 nights in Alaska - A year of planning!

RESFEBER has hit!  Alaska here we come!

It’s time! For the past year I’ve been planning our next big adventure into the unknown (to us). WEDNESDAY the Rahns will be heading deep into Alaska for 15 days! I am definitely feeling RESFEBER. I am so excited and also anxious for the day to come.

I can't wait to embark on this journey and I have learned so much during my planning. Those who know me, know that planning for a vacation is almost as much fun as the vacation itself. I’ve recently thought about why that is and what makes planning so much fun.

So…step into my brain as I share my planning journey that is getting us to Anchorage, Alaska in 48 hours!

I always start with the big 5.

Who?

What?

Where?

When?

Why?

And then how?

I begin by thinking about:

• Who is traveling? 

• What is the purpose of this vacation? What do we want to get out of this vacation? What are we hoping to see and/or learn? What are we celebrating? What is the intention of this vacation? What is the travel style of the “who?”

• Where do we want to go to answer the “what” questions? I always think about the big where and then smaller wheres within the big where.

• When do we want to go? When do we want to come back? When might be the best time to visit this place? When is everyone available?

• Why do we want to go here? Why did we choose this place? Why are we traveling in general during this time?

After having conversations and dialogue with my family about the big questions and we settle on a destination, a time frame, travelers, our why for visiting, and our purpose for this vacation… then the fun begins. 

So, let me fill you in on our current trip:

• Who? Don, Laura, Carleigh and her girlfriend, Elisabeth

• What? Carleigh’s graduation celebration trip. The trip needed to involve nature, national parks and being outdoors. All of us appreciate the outdoors and exploring new natural places. (Katie chose to sit this one out because her travel style is not an all outdoors vacation, and she didn't want to intrude on Carleigh's celebration)

• Where? We started with California national parks and pivoted to Alaska. We chose Alaska and then started thinking about the smaller “wheres.” We will be visiting Anchorage, Denali, Homer, Glacier View, Seward, Kenai Fjord, and Summit Lake.

• When? July…after Carleigh graduated…after Laura retired…after Don finished teaching for the year…and after Katie moved back home and was settled with her full-time internship.

• Why? We chose Alaska because we took an inside passage cruise a few years ago and knew we wanted to go back to explore inside Alaska on our own. Also, a friend went a few years ago and shared her excitement and adventures with us. We love to “collect” national parks and we will be visiting three of the national parks in Alaska. My deeper why is family time and disconnecting from the daily world. I love to travel and get away from the daily grind and create memories that I can reflect back on.

We’ve got the big details figured out, now I start diving into the smaller details.

First for me is a preliminary itinerary and beginning to think about a budget. I then explore flights and hotels, while always thinking about the budget. I give myself time to research and learn about the destination. I browse TripAdvisor for highly recommended hotels/lodging and also restaurants and things to do in each destination.  I also search for blogs, online itineraries and information from other travelers that I can learn from.

My family is a big part of the planning. When I find exciting things, I always share and get their feedback before making any big decisions. I may do the legwork, and every one traveling on the trip will have a voice in the planning. 

So, it’s been a year of doing the above and we are about to leave for 15 days in Alaska. We’ve got our rental car reserved and we are ready!  

Here is our high level itinerary and some of the highlights that we are looking forward to

     

Our last trip to Alaska was in 2011 on a Disney Cruise to the Inside Passage. We knew we had to return and see more!

We've all grown up a bit since then!

When thinking about this trip, I began to wonder just how much of Alaska we were really going to see and I found this fun image. Basically, we will be driving around an area the size of the state of Virginia for 14 days.

I've tagged each location that we will be visiting sequentially. I can't wait to explore!!!

I have heard the internet is not as reliable and that cell service is spotty, so I am not sure how much I will be able to update. And my goal is to do some live blogging while on this adventure. 

So, stay tuned for:

Seldom A Dull Moment with the Rahns…Alaska Style!

See you in Anchorage!