My partner and I just got back from 10 days in Alaska. We flew into Anchorage, spent a couple days there, drove to Girdwood then Seward, spent a couple days in Seward, back up to Anchorage for a day, then up to Denali for a few days, and back to Anchorage to fly home. We rented a car and stayed in airbnbs and other private rentals.
In Anchorage pt 1, we drove out to the mountains close to town that you drive up into for some excellent views, and did a day at the Anchorage museum (which I will highly recommend, we didn’t even get to see all of it as it’s huge). We had the highly recommended Moose’s Tooth pizza for dinner on night 1, Midnight Sun Cafe for brunch on day 2, and Charlie’s Bakery for dinner on day 2 (I’d pass on this last one—fine but not amazing).
We then drove to Girdwood for a dogsledding experience but had to reschedule after we arrived due to weather. We then went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, which you can walk or drive through, and it was a good chance to see lots of native animals that you might not otherwise. From there, we headed to Seward. We did a small hike out to Tonsina point followed by a fancier-than-expected dinner at The Cookery (10/10 recommend). The next day, we grabbed a quick coffee at Resurrection Art Coffee House and hopped on a catamaran out to the Kenai fjords to go kayaking along the glaciers. This was an incredibly beautiful experience. Unfortunately we did not encounter any whales, but we did see sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals, puffins, and eagles. Lunch was provided on the kayaks. We were planning to try Soup There It Is for dinner, but they were closed, so we ended up at Lone Chicharrón Taqueria which was a solid meal. The following morning, we grabbed coffee and coffee cake at the Rowdy Radish then did a little hike out to Exit Glacier before heading back to Girdwood. We saw our first moose of the trip on the Seward highway this day!
The only thing we did in Girdwood was the dogsledding experience. We took a helicopter up to a glacier, where one of the Iditarod racers trains some of his dogs in the summer. We got to meet the dogs, play with some very young puppies, and ride out around the glacier on the real deal. If you love dogs and have the money for this, I highly recommend the experience.
After sledding, we returned to Anchorage and grabbed dinner at Yak and Yeti (also 10/10) followed by dessert at Wild Scoops. Excellent ice cream with a few fun flavors featuring local Alaskan ingredients like wild berries and birch syrup. The next day, we grabbed brunch at Fire Island Bakeshop and That Feeling Co. coffee. Cute multi-business operation, good food, good coffee, good vibes. We visited the Alaska Native Heritage Center this day, and took a guided tour through the different kinds of houses that some Alaskan Natives have lived in and checked out various kinds of clothing and art. Dinner this night was Hearth Artisan Pizza and we liked this place more than Moose’s Tooth. We grabbed breakfast at Middle Way Cafe the next morning, which had a ton of options, and then headed up to Denali.
We stopped in Talkeetna on the way to Denali. There were lots of shops and a few restaurants, it was a cute little town that might warrant a day of its own. We did a small hike and had a packed lunch before finishing out our drive. We stayed at an AirBnB north of Healy for this part of the trip, and it was out of the way of all the Alaskan cruise crowds, which was nice. Breakfast was included from our host, we cooked a couple of the nights for dinner, and had packed lunches for our hikes. We hiked 6 miles of the Triple Lakes Trail on day 1, and then took the transit bus in the park out to the East Fork stop on day 2. We saw so many animals in the park, we got super lucky. The first brown bear of the season that our bus driver had seen, 7 moose, 2 caribou, several snowshoe hare, Dall sheep, arctic ground squirrels, and lots of birds including many willow ptarmigan. We also caught a clear view of Denali herself, which only about 30% of park visitors get. We did get dinner at the 49th State Brewery the last night there. The food was good enough, the beer was okay, the service was pretty terrible. I don’t usually mind service issues but this one is worth calling out if poor service makes or breaks a meal for you.
The next day, we headed back down to Anchorage, stopping in at the Flying Squirrel in Talkeetna for lunch. It was lovely, not at all what I expected, and I wish I had another chance to come back for breakfast. We stopped in at Blackbull Native Store in Anchorage to grab some akutaq that my partner wanted to try (colloquially known as eskimo ice cream). To close out our trip, we had dinner at Turkish Delight in Anchorage, and one more stop at Wild Scoops for dessert. The long days were a bit disorienting but quite lovely, the weather changes on a dime, and because of the high humidity, Alaska is colder than you expect. It is an expensive trip just because everything there is expensive (gas was averaging $5.19/gal while we were there), but worth it at least once.
Photos:
1 Black bear in Anchorage
2 Moose’s Tooth pizzas
3 Art at the Anchorage Museum
4 Sign from the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
5 Tonsina Point
6 Halibut with corn soubise from The Cookery
7 Exit Glacier
8 Sled dogs harnessing up
9 Curries from Yam and Yeti
10 Blueberry buttermilk ice cream from Wild Scoops
11 Egg salad sandwich and pain au chocolat from Fire Island Bakehouse, view of That Feeling Co. coffee
12 Whale skeleton at Alaska Native Heritage Center
13 Pear, blue cheese, hot honey pizza from Hearth Artisan Pizza
14 Triple Lakes Trail in Denali
15 Moose in the Denali National Park Visitor Center parking lot
16 East Fork River area in Denali National Park
17 Flying Squirrel Bakery
18 Akutaq
19 Our last view of Denali peaking out from the clouds