Land of the Midnight Sun
Alaska – 5 towns and 6 tours in 16 days. Anchorage, Denali, Seward, Homer, and Girdwood.
Here, sign this waiver releasing us from any responsibility if you die.
That is pretty much how every tour in Alaska starts. Most of the activities you sign up for are inherently risky. Listen to the instructions, keep your head on straight, stay sober, and you’ll be fine (probably).
I was a little scared to jump into some of these adventures but whatever, you know? I could just as easily die in a car accident so…let’s do this.
Alaska feels inherently dangerous because, well, bears — and a lot of open land. Alaska is bigger than Texas, California, and Montana combined. Even with all that land, Alaska has fewer roads than Delaware. So, for a novice — if you don’t die from an animal attack, you may die at the hands of the raw wilderness. With all that said, sign up for tours. You will be with experts that know how to navigate Alaska and you will also learn some really cool stuff along the way.
Anchorage
You will most likely fly into Anchorage. I recommend that you do. Stay at least one night here. You will need to recharge after that long flight. I live on the west coast and it was still a full day of travel for me.
Give yourself a day in Anchorage if you can. Roam around, sit at a brewery, take an easy walk. We went to the museum there — Anchorage Museum — and it was very cool. If you are down with museums, definitely check it out.
Anchorage, as a city, will not take you long to get through. You won’t need more than two days here if you are planning on roaming around the town. Most of what you do will be excursions: fishing, hiking, boating. You could make Anchorage your home base and do stuff out of there but we chose to travel throughout the state. Do that if you have the time to devote to it.
Trains
The trains in Alaska are great! The train depots are all centrally located and easy to get transport from. We took many trains while we were there and it worked out well.
We used the trains on 4 different days to get to different cities. It is a fun way to see the state. You can sit back, stare out the window, see some remarkable wilderness, and you will also cross some amazing bridges.
If you are heading anywhere north of Anchorage, look into taking the Wilderness Express. It’s a luxury rail car with a curved glass dome so you get to see way more than you would from a regular train seat. They have hosts that narrate your trip, some pretty tasty food, and a full bar. If that’s not your thing, the regular trains are perfectly good and I would recommend those too. You’ll still get a great trip, you’ll just have to get your own drinks.
Talkeetna
Also known as The Gateway to Denali. Anyone that wants to try to summit Mt. McKinley has to go through Talkeetna. This place is exactly what you think of when you picture a small Alaskan town. There is one main street with log cabins, colorful storefronts, and an artsy feel.
After you check in to your hotel, you may experience an earthquake as we did. Not to worry, it was relatively small, but I did start to look for the nearest exit just in case.
Stay a day or two in Talkeetna. There is so much to do just outside of this small town and it has just about the best view of Denali and the Alaska Range you can find.
Early one morning, we jumped on a flight tour with K2 Aviation. We got lucky the day we flew out with them. When I say lucky, I mean lottery-ticket-winner-lucky. The day that our tour was scheduled there were no clouds surrounding the mountain. That just doesn’t happen up there. Our pilot kept referring to us as “the 5-percenters” because that’s how many visitors get to see the mountain this way. We had about 200-mile visibility. We also landed on Ruth Glacier and got to run around for about 20 minutes in clunky pull-on snow boots that go over your shoes.
That was one of the coolest tours I’ve ever been a part of. If you’re okay with smaller planes, definitely look into it. The plane we were in held 10 passengers. If you’re not into it, there is still a lot to do up in this area.
Jump on a jet boat tour. Mahay’s is one of the larger companies and it is the tour that we took. It is an easy tour with knowledgeable guides. You get to cruise around the water, learn about the area and the animals, and it is not strenuous at all. You could easily fit this into your trip. It was and fun and would be good for a family.
Denali
Denali is remote. It is another train ride north of Talkeetna. From there you hop on a bus to your lodge or hotel which is probably another 20 minutes or so. When you get to your hotel there will be nothing to do if you don’t have a car. By that, I mean nothing that you can walk to. Most of the lodges have shuttles that will drop you off in town.
Denali is not really a city, it’s just a national park. There is a small strip of shopping and places for lunch but you’ll blow through that in an hour. If you make a trip out to this part of the state, be sure to book tours ahead of time.
There is one road that runs through Denali National Park and cars are only allowed to go a little way in. The road is 92 miles in which ends in Kantishna. The only way you can go the distance, out and back, is on a tour. We used Denali Backcountry Adventure but there are a few you can choose from. If you do decide to go the whole day just know that the tour is 13 hours.
You leave at 6am and get back at 7pm. You will see a lot of really cool wildlife. We saw bears, moose, and a herd of caribou. It was definitely worth the long day but in the end, everyone on the tour was over it. “Stop the bus, there is a caribou!” someone exclaimed. Everyone on the bus groaned, “Yeah, we’ve seen it already.” It was funny to be a part of a group where the entire mood had shifted by the end of the day. The mood of the bus had turned 180 degrees in about 12 hours. All that said, do it. It was unbelievable and something I will never forget.
The next day we hopped on a river rafting tour at 7am…because why not?
White water rafting was never something I thought I would do. The thought of it low-key terrified me. The water was really cold and I thought for sure I would get dumped out of the boat. I’m glad to tell you that didn’t happen. Denali Raft Adventures was awesome.
We were bused to the company’s headquarters and given instructions on how to put on a dry suit. A dry suit is like a baggy wet suit that you wear over your clothes. You can layer under it to keep warm. It’s clunky and awkward.
Before I knew it, I was standing at the edge of the river in the rain next to a tall, skinny 19-year-old. He wore board shorts with a dinosaur on them over his dry suit and munched on sunflower seeds. He was ultimately calm and cool. He would be our guide for the next four hours.
Getting to see this area from the river is a unique experience. Your guide will be able to tell you how the river was formed and explain how glaciers have cut through and made this amazing landscape. We stopped halfway through the tour at the grossest highway bathroom I’ve ever seen. But, you gotta do what you gotta do. We jumped back in the raft and headed for the white water rapids.
We got splashed. We got cold. We had a really good time. We felt safe with our guide and we had a super cool trip down the river. As the river calmed down again, our guide encouraged us to jump into the water, assuring us he would pull us back in the boat. We all declined but watched others do it. Carpe diem to you guys!
We ended the day semi-stranded at a strip mall with almost no food. We found a tiny food truck at the very end, grabbed a sandwich, and waited like three hours for a shuttle back to our lodge.
After a good night’s sleep, we were back at the train station the next morning. It’s an eight-hour train ride from Denali to Anchorage. We stayed the night in Anchorage and jumped back on the train early the next day to head farther south to Seward.
Seward
This is a cool little town. There is a lot to do here: hike, fish, camp, run. The downtown is small and walkable with some good restaurants and shops. It is picturesque, to say the least. Stay here a few days if you have time. We were here for two nights.
We hopped on an all-day tour of the Kenai Fjords. The wildlife we saw was spectacular: bald eagles, seals, orcas, and tons of birds. Another amazing aspect of this tour is the glaciers. You get pretty close to active glaciers. The boat captain stopped the engine and we hung out near these glaciers for about 30 minutes. With the engine off, you can hear the glaciers moving. It sounds like thunder. It is incredible. We also saw part of one crack off and splash into the ocean. The waves from that rocked our boat pretty well. By the way, bring Dramamine. We used it on every boat trip and no one got seasick. The tour company we used was Major Marine Tours. They were great!
Most things close early in this small town but we got hungry late one night. We walked down to a food truck close by. We waited forever for hot dogs but that’s okay. The views from anywhere in this town make it worth it. We snagged a bottle of wine from the gas station close by and had a midnight snack.
You never know when you will find these special moments when you travel. All the tours are amazing and then you find yourself in your hotel room with a hot dog, a bottle of wine, laughing with your husband, and you think — man, this is pretty great!
Homer & Halibut Fishing
We rented a car in Seward and drove to Homer. It’s not too far. Took us about 3–4 hours. We stayed at a hotel on the Homer Spit for two nights. There is tons of camping and fishing out here. Like, more than I’ve ever seen in one place. It was overcast and cool and a little rainy the whole time we were there but let me tell you, that does not deter anyone from getting outside.
We booked a halibut fishing charter for a full day. We left early in the morning, about 7am, out to some pretty choppy water. Our boat captain was no bullshit. I kind of appreciated that though. There are a lot of dangers on a boat like this and you need to keep everyone safe.
His daughter was his right hand. She looked about 18-years old and she was petite. I’ve never seen anyone orchestrate ten people fishing off the back of the boat as she did. It was like a one-woman ballet. She told everyone where to go, baited hooks, brought in fish, threw them on the boat, and hit them in the head with a small metal baseball bat. Incredible!
The water was really choppy this day and it was raining. We hit six-foot swells at one point. I don’t know how no one fell off the back of the boat. I hooked my first fish and began to reel it in. It was so hard. I would pause to readjust my grip and then go back to reeling. “You doing okay there, princess?” A tall, thick, older man with a grey beard asked me. I smiled widely and said yes. He was the captain’s mentor, just helping out for the day. He looked like a classic fisherman. Like, someone from a tuna commercial or something.
A few people got seasick. I’ll spare you the details. Again, Dramamine is a lifesaver. We were supposed to pack our lunch for this excursion which would’ve been fine but by the time we realized this the day before, everything was closed. We scrounged up some chips and candy bars to bring with us. Everyone else had sandwiches. Oh well.
I caught two fish. I was happy with that. You can have some shipped home but we didn’t. Just logistically it wasn’t going to work so we left it with the fish processing company. I don’t think I will be going deep sea fishing any time soon but this was an adventure that I am really happy I got to experience.
Tutka Bay Lodge
Tutka Bay is off the coast of the Homer Spit. You have to take a water taxi to get there. You cannot drive. It’s not an island, it’s connected to the land but again, water taxis only.
Tutka Bay Lodge is fancy. There are only six cabins there and everything is full service. All meals are included as well as beer and wine. Let me just tell you that this is some of the best food I have ever had. The chefs here are unbelievable. Before each course, they step out of the kitchen and tell you what they made. It’s really cool. You will never go hungry here, that’s for sure. This wouldn’t be a place I would book on my own but I happened to be crashing my dad & step mom’s trip so I was game for anything. I’m really glad I got to experience it!
When you arrive you are assigned a tour guide. They are your contact person for your time there. They take you on guided hikes, kayak tours, boat tours, whatever you want to do. There is also a masseuse and yoga teacher on-site as well as a dry sauna and hot tub. There are no TVs or WiFi in the cabins, you have to go to the main lodge for that. But with so much to do outside, you won’t miss it.
We stayed here for three nights and ate and drank ourselves into comas. We had some rainy weather so we didn’t get to do everything we had planned but that was a-okay. We were all pretty tired by this point in the trip and a short hike and a relaxing afternoon served us well.
By the time we left, everyone felt like family.
We headed back to The Spit, jumped in our rental car, and drove up to the last city of the trip…Girdwood.
Girdwood
Girdwood is a ski resort town. We stayed at Alyeska Resort for the night, which is beautiful. If you stay in this area there is a lot to do. You could make this your home base if you wanted to. It’s only an hour away from Anchorage and you can book flightseeing tours, rafting tours, and even a dog sledding adventure if you go in winter.
Alyeska Resort has a tram that runs to the top of the mountain year-round. You can also hike up and take the tram down. There is a restaurant at the top. We took it up, had a beer and some food, and checked out the views. It is worth it. I was skeptical but it was super cool.
We took it easy on this last day of the trip. We roamed around, had an early dinner, and put our feet up. Do beware of the mosquitoes here. They are giant. I was bitten through my clothes. There was a wedding taking place here and a group of bridesmaids got on an elevator with me. One girl’s whole arm was covered in bites. I felt so bad for her. So, heads up on that. Bring bug spray and ointment for when you do get bites.
The next morning we dove back to Anchorage and boarded our flight home.
Alaska is magical. It looks like no place I have ever seen. It looks like another planet. In the summer, the sun never goes down which provides you with extra energy for all the things you want to do. It is insanely fun. They don’t call it the land of the midnight sun for nothing.
The people are warm, friendly, and down-to-earth. Everyone genuinely wants to help you. Alaska wasn’t necessarily on my radar to visit but now that I’ve been, I want to go back. The mountains draw you in and will draw you back.
Next time I’d love to go in the winter so I can see the Northern Lights.
If you decide to make the trip up to Alaska, plan it out. Book hotels, tours, and trains well in advance. That way when you get there you can just enjoy the ride.
A trip to Alaska is a lot like life. Plan the big stuff, enjoy the scenery, find a hot dog and a bottle of wine in your downtime. Share it all with someone you love.
About Kit
Kit Campoy is a former retail professional turned freelance writer. She writes about Leadership, Retail, and Web3. Contact Kit for your content needs.