5/23/2013
Do:
Scenic Drive From Anchorage to Seward: The road from Anchorage to Seward is known as the Seward Highway, and is approximately 120 miles of intense mountain scenery unlike anything that can be seen in the lower 48 states. Almost from the second you leave the city of Anchorage you will be driving with the pristine Turnagain Arm to your right and vast mountain ranges to your left. There are plenty of places on the way to stop, take pictures, hike, picnic, and so on.
Beluga Point Lookout: One of the first areas you can stop outside of Anchorage, this point gives you a great view of Turnagain Arm. Although the signs say you're not supposed to, you can easily cross the train tracks (watch out for the train!) and stand on one of the hills directly on top of the water. The crisp breeze, fresh air, and amazing views were all we needed to see to know that this was going to be the beginning of a great trip.
Bird Ridge Trail: "Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous" is what we read, and as "nature-deprived flatlanders" (as we were called on an online forum when we said we lived in the NYC area), we certainly had a different expectation of Moderate than Alaskans do. This hike goes up about 3400 feet in 2.5 miles, and offers a great panoramic view of the nearby mountains and Turnagain Arm. We were able to make it about 1.5 miles in before we hit snow and had to turn around, as we were not completely prepared for that. The views at that point were still well worth it. The difficulty was a bit more than we expected, but with the proper amount of water/snacks and slightly better weather, we probably could have made it up to the top. As we began the descent down, we passed a few extremely fit joggers out for a light morning run up the trail.
Exit Glacier: Exit Glacier is a "spillover" glacier from the Harding Ice Field, and is the only glacier accessible by car. It seems that usually it would be open in late-May when we went, but due to the late winter, we had to park about a mile down the road and walk up to the entrance. The trail is supposed to be real easy and handicapped accessible, but it was entirely covered in about 1-2 feet of snow when we got there. We weren't about to give up that easily, so we powered through the snow for about 1.5 miles, following the orange flags when it wasn't clear which way to go, all for an extremely rewarding close-up view of the glacier. There was barely anyone on the trail, which made it all the more special that we got to see it in such a unique state. What's interesting is as you get closer to the glacier, you will see signs that just display a year--when you finally get to the top, it's revealed that each of those signs is how large the glacier was during that year--it's a physical sign of climate change in action, as the glacier has all but vanished in the past 100 years.
Eat:
The Bake Shop: A little restaurant/bakery near the Alyeska ski resort, approximately 1/3rd of the way between Anchorage and Seward, and a nice place to stop by for a quick lunch while driving down. The interior is a bit like a cafeteria, but the tasty food made up for it. They are famous for their sourdough bread.
Salmon Bake: This is apparently the place that locals from Seward eat--they have fresh seafood and great beer. We tried the king crab legs (authentic ones are supposed to be the size of a woman's wrist, and yes, we compared) and the halibut, along with some local Alaskan beer. When the check came we experienced a bit of sticker shock relative to the amount of food we got, but hey, this is Alaska, what do you expect.
Stay:
Hotel Seward: We stayed in the Historic Wing, which had somewhat small rooms, but was overall fairly reasonable. A bit expensive for what we got, but the location in downtown Seward was excellent as we were able to check out all the local bars/breweries to drink the famous Alaskan-brewed beer without having to worry about driving back.
5/24/2013
Do:
Scenic Drive From Anchorage to Seward: The road from Anchorage to Seward is known as the Seward Highway, and is approximately 120 miles of intense mountain scenery unlike anything that can be seen in the lower 48 states. Almost from the second you leave the city of Anchorage you will be driving with the pristine Turnagain Arm to your right and vast mountain ranges to your left. There are plenty of places on the way to stop, take pictures, hike, picnic, and so on.
Beluga Point Lookout: One of the first areas you can stop outside of Anchorage, this point gives you a great view of Turnagain Arm. Although the signs say you're not supposed to, you can easily cross the train tracks (watch out for the train!) and stand on one of the hills directly on top of the water. The crisp breeze, fresh air, and amazing views were all we needed to see to know that this was going to be the beginning of a great trip.
Bird Ridge Trail: "Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous" is what we read, and as "nature-deprived flatlanders" (as we were called on an online forum when we said we lived in the NYC area), we certainly had a different expectation of Moderate than Alaskans do. This hike goes up about 3400 feet in 2.5 miles, and offers a great panoramic view of the nearby mountains and Turnagain Arm. We were able to make it about 1.5 miles in before we hit snow and had to turn around, as we were not completely prepared for that. The views at that point were still well worth it. The difficulty was a bit more than we expected, but with the proper amount of water/snacks and slightly better weather, we probably could have made it up to the top. As we began the descent down, we passed a few extremely fit joggers out for a light morning run up the trail.
Exit Glacier: Exit Glacier is a "spillover" glacier from the Harding Ice Field, and is the only glacier accessible by car. It seems that usually it would be open in late-May when we went, but due to the late winter, we had to park about a mile down the road and walk up to the entrance. The trail is supposed to be real easy and handicapped accessible, but it was entirely covered in about 1-2 feet of snow when we got there. We weren't about to give up that easily, so we powered through the snow for about 1.5 miles, following the orange flags when it wasn't clear which way to go, all for an extremely rewarding close-up view of the glacier. There was barely anyone on the trail, which made it all the more special that we got to see it in such a unique state. What's interesting is as you get closer to the glacier, you will see signs that just display a year--when you finally get to the top, it's revealed that each of those signs is how large the glacier was during that year--it's a physical sign of climate change in action, as the glacier has all but vanished in the past 100 years.
Eat:
The Bake Shop: A little restaurant/bakery near the Alyeska ski resort, approximately 1/3rd of the way between Anchorage and Seward, and a nice place to stop by for a quick lunch while driving down. The interior is a bit like a cafeteria, but the tasty food made up for it. They are famous for their sourdough bread.
Salmon Bake: This is apparently the place that locals from Seward eat--they have fresh seafood and great beer. We tried the king crab legs (authentic ones are supposed to be the size of a woman's wrist, and yes, we compared) and the halibut, along with some local Alaskan beer. When the check came we experienced a bit of sticker shock relative to the amount of food we got, but hey, this is Alaska, what do you expect.
Stay:
Hotel Seward: We stayed in the Historic Wing, which had somewhat small rooms, but was overall fairly reasonable. A bit expensive for what we got, but the location in downtown Seward was excellent as we were able to check out all the local bars/breweries to drink the famous Alaskan-brewed beer without having to worry about driving back.
Do:
Kenai Fjords Tour: We are not usually huge fans of guided tours, but most of Kenai Fjords national park is inaccessible by road and has to be visited by either boat or plane. After reading up online, we decided to go with Kenai Fjords Tours on their 6 hour day cruise up to see glaciers close up as well as the local marine wildlife. This cruise ended up being well worth it, as we saw an abundance of whales, sea otters, birds, dolphins, etc, in addition to getting up close and personal with the Harding Ice Field and Holgate Glacier. The boat cut its engine next to the glacier and we just sat there for a while listening to the sounds it produced and feeling the glacial wind on our face, which was the first time we had ever experienced anything like that. Throughout the trip as we were going and coming, we kept seeing huge killer whales breaching the water (they are gigantic!). The captain of the ship explained that the whales go back and forth from Alaska to Hawaii (Hawaii is where they mate, then they swim up to Alaska as the weather gets warmer). We had just visited Hawaii 2 weeks before this and were disappointed at the lack of whales in all the whale watching spots--now with all the whales around us in Alaska, it suddenly made a lot more sense.
Eat:
Sea Bean: A nice place to relax and have some good coffee along with decent pastries. Seemed like everybody knew everybody else here, from the baristas to the clientele.
Christo's Palace: We had some pizza and some seafood here. An odd combination for sure, but this place seems to serve everything (or at the very least, every place in Alaska seems to serve seafood). Pizza was pretty good, although a bit on the pricy side just like everything else.
Drink:
Brewing Company Seward: This place seemed like it was brand new, or at the very least went through some recent renovations as it was sparkling clean inside. Had a few pints of local beer which were great--we suspect it's the ultra high quality water. What's nice is that this place is located downtown so we could walk back to the hotel a little buzzed without having to worry about driving.
Stay:
Hotel Seward: Same as last night.
5/25/2013
Do:
Homestead Trail: This is the most recommended hike in Homer, according to guidebooks, but unfortunately we were only able to make it partway up before being overwhelmed with snow, ice, and mud. If we had packed some sort of mud-proof boots we probably would have stood a chance but we were woefully unprepared. We also were literally the only people on this entire trail (though I suppose that may not be uncommon in Alaska).
Homer Spit: It's a long stretch of land that extends out to the final destination (Land's End) of the North American interconnected road system (i.e. from this point, you can still drive to almost anywhere else in North America). Has a very beach like atmosphere as well as tons of RVs and tents set up for people to camp out. Who knows how long they are planning to stick around, some of them look like they are quite well settled. At the end of the spit were a bunch of families fishing for dinner. The number of fish were so abundant that everybody was constantly pulling fish in from the sea, including all the little children. There was one little girl who got 4 or 5 large fish in the time we were standing there watching (approximately 15 minutes). Our hostess at the bed and breakfast explained to us that locals don't usually eat seafood from a restaurant, they generally eat what they catch, and we could see why as clearly there was no shortage of fish at this time of year. Seems like a nice life that could be lived for very little money--fresh, healthy food is abundant, and you have shelter in your RV, what else do you need in life?
Eat:
Marina Restaurant: Grabbed a quick breakfast here before heading out of Seward--some pancakes and eggs, nothing too special, but not bad, and great prices. They seemed a bit understaffed as there was only one waitress for like 15+ tables which made things move a little slowly. It wasn't too big a deal since we're on vacation and not in a big rush, but if you have to catch a boat or something then this may not be an ideal choice.
Fat Olive Restaurant: More pizza in Alaska? Yeah, that doesn't seem right (especially since we're from NYC) but many of the most highly recommended places are pizza places. New Yorkers like to brag that it's the high quality water from upstate used to make bread for pizza and bagels that give it that unique flavor and quality--maybe Alaska has something similar going for it with its glacial water.
Cafe Cups: We were going to check this place out for lunch, but they're only open for dinner in late May (off peak season for them). When we checked into our bed and breakfast, the hostess recommended this place for dinner so we knew we were on the right track and tried again around 9pm for dinner. We just made it before it closed (seriously though, the late daylight messed with our internal clock and we thought it was a lot earlier than 9pm). The seafood was pretty tasty, and the service extremely friendly.
Stay:
Cozy Cove Inn Bed and Breakfast: We found this place online and booked it a few weeks before arriving--what we didn't realize is that it's pretty much a bedroom in someone's house. Now, at first we were a little apprehensive, but the owner of the place was so sweet and nice to us, told us about her family, told us great outdoorsy things to do, and even cooked a tasty breakfast for us. On top of that, the room and bathroom were of such a high quality that this place would be our top choice when we decide to come back.
5/26/2013
Do:
Flattop Mountain Trail: Back to Anchorage! Kind of sad since it's our last day here. This trail is right on the outskirts of the city, and is marketed as easy to moderate. This would easily be a strenuous trail on the east coast, but we trudged our way up through the snow, watching as people brought their skis up to pretty much free-fall down this vertical mountain edge. This is a popular spot for the midnight sun, which we would have caught had we been here in late June, as it provides great views of the river, mountains, as well as downtown Anchorage. As a city-dweller, seeing a modern skyline after a few days of being in nature gave me a strange sort of comfort.
Tony Knowles Coastal Trail: In the last few hours before heading to the airport to fly home, we walked along the coastal trail with the city skyline behind us and the sun setting in front of us. While it's more nature-oriented than what you'd get in an east coast city, it's still a very urban trail (we saw some guy chasing after a thuggish looking dude who, from what it seems, either stole something or started a fire somewhere, as people were trying to get ahold of the police--ah, reminds us of home).
Eat:
Mooses Tooth Pub and Pizzeria: Yes, we are eating pizza again. I promise you that we are usually more adventurous, but somehow the list of places to eat that we compiled turned out to have a high percentage of pizza places! The pizza here was great. I managed to save two slices to eat for the plane ride home, much to the jealousy of the passengers sitting adjacent to me.
Drink:
Mooses Tooth Pub and Pizzeria: Had an apple ale and a pale ale. Both pretty tasty--this is the first fruit flavored ale that seems to compare to our local NY favorite, Ithaca Apricot Ale.
Photos from Alaska
