Blogs from Anchorage, Alaska, United States, North America

Last day in Alaska:( The temperature in the morning in Denali was a crisp 32° but clear. Today I had to head back to Anchorage for my 10PM flight back to Chicago. I had hoped to take the train back but the shortened summer schedule didn't work out with the timing of my flight so I was back on the Park Connection bus. We departed from Denali at 7:15 and headed on the journey out of the Alaska Range down to the coast in Anchorage. The driver for this stretch was a lady named Karen and she was awesome! She has lived in Alaska for 25ish years and provided all kinds of information on the landscapes and the towns as we went by. She told us all about the Talkeetna Bachelor Auction and Wilderness Women Competition ... read more

Leading up to this trip there was one big question, would it even happen? The COVID-19 pandemic has been going on since early 2020 and the recent Delta variant has caused a surge in cases. I booked this trip at the end of October 2020 using a travel company out of Anchorage. The advantage to me was having one point of contact if I needed to cancel and travel protection to be able to get a full refund. Fortunately, Alaska is still open to visitors who are in desperate need of a vacation after sitting at home since March 2020! I like to be to the airport early as I don't like to be rushed through security and have to sprint to get to my flight. My dad dropped me off at O'Hare at 6:30 and ... read more

You may well have been wondering why it has been so long since my last post; alternatively of course, you may well have been relieved to have had some respite from the trials and tribulations of the Famous Five. Well, the fact is, we have been aboard our cruise ship for the last 8 days and even with the ship's 'super value', 'special offer', 'one time only', 'bargain basement price' for a week's access to the Wifi, it would still have rivalled the amount that America paid Russia to purchase Alaska way back in 1867 - for those that are interested, America paid $7.2million! In fact, we even thought about just paying for the Wifi for the last day on ship (when we were at sea all day), but at $55 per day, PER DEVICE (!), ... read more

The drive from Alyeska Resort in Girdwood AK to Kenai River Lodge in Soldatna AK was slightly over two hours, which gave us time to stop at the Soldotna Visitor Information Center. The visitor center has a wealth of information, had answers to all of my questions and has a number of incredible animal mounts including a World Record King Salmon – 97 pounds, 4 ounces and 58 ½ inches long – caught on May 17, 1985 on the Kenai River over which our room window looks. The motel is unique in that it owns the riverfront property and restricts fishing there to motel guests. We were able to watch several successful fisherpersons (both on the motel property and the public park across the river) land what appeared to be nice-sized keepers. Other features of the ... read more

Woke up at leisure this time. All of us worked out that morning before breakfast. Good variety by Fairfield! Praveen and I ran around a park near by. It was extremely nice. We got an Uber to Egan convention center. Well organized. We dropped off the bags to be checked in. There were 2 big buses waiting g to ferry passengers to Whittier. Bus promptly left around noon. It is about 90 to 120 minutes depending on tunnel to Whittier. This tunnel is a one way one lane road allowing vehicles and train to share. Top of the hour, Whittier transports head to anchorage and at the bottom of the hour, it is the other way. Driver was very informative and funny. Buses get the preference when they start allowing traffic to flow into Whittier. As ... read more