TravelStream™ news feed for member bkam on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bkam en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:19:55 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bkam/18/1220884440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bkam/18/1220884440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bkam/18/1220884440/tpod.html Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:19:55 -0400 Alaska

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Copper Center, Alaska, United States

Night at the Copper Center Lodge. They have THE best sourdough bread and pancakes I've ever had. It's a must stop, just for the food. The rooms themselves are okay. Very basic lodging and the bathroom creeped me out a little but H was fine with it. But then again this is a historic Alaskan roadhouse, not the Princess Lodge.

We tried to convince ourselves to get on a plane and do the flight seeing tour of Wrangell-St Elias - but we just couldn't talk ourselves into it (I have a fear of heights that probably only surpassed by my husband's). Instead, we drove part of the way on McCarthy road before heading out to Matanuska Glacier.

I should add that this was an last minute addition to our trip. We'd initially planned on spending the night at the MatSu Valley for the 10am hike on the glacier but the drive from Denali and then on the Glenn Highway was beautiful and then we couldn't find a hotel along the Gleen Highway, so we just kept driving all the way down to Copper Center. We ended up changing our hike to the 3pm hike to allow ourselves time to rest up (after a 8.5 hr drive from Denali)and explore some of the area around Wrangell-St Elias NP.
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Anchorage, Alaska, United States

Flew into Anchorage from NJ. It was a long 10 hour flight with a short stop-over in Seattle. We didn't really spend any time in Anchorage, basically got there at 9pm , rented our car and drove to the hotel. It was your basic Residence Inn - clean and comfortable beds. Due to the time difference (4 hrs!) we were up early and headed out to Denali.

Our first stop along the way was Talkeetna where we got some great views of the Alaskan Range, but nothing compared to what we would see the next day at the park!
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Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, United States

When we arrived the night before, the first thing we did (after checking into the hotel-which took a while since a bus full of cruise passengers had pulled in just before us) was drive the 15 miles to Savage River. The fall colors were just breathtaking and we got to see 2 moose along the way amidst the foliage!

We then stopped by the wilderness center and switched our bus ticked to an earlier departure since we found that we were getting up pretty early due to the time difference. That night, we ate dinner at the Princess Lodge -well we weren't really hungry so dinner was actually some Alaskan ale and an appetizer of wings...

Bright and early the next day, we headed out to the park to board our bus for the 11 hour ride to Wonder Lake. The trip itself, although long, was just amazing!! We saw so much wildlife - including about 10 bears (one guy was right next to us on the road foraging for food, and then crossed over right in front of us!, dall sheep, moose, a fox, a wolf, porcupines, the birds that are so famous in Denali (I can't recall what they're called...), caribou! And to top it off, we also were in the 30% of visitors who actually get to see the peak of Denali!! Our guide told us that only about 30% actually get to see a wolf at the park and 30% get to see the peak of Mt McKinley- and we got to see both!!! I felt pretty lucky that day (hmm...maybe we should've bought a lottery ticket that evening?)

Just a word of advice though, you know those pics of Mt McKinley reflecting in Wonder Lake? Those are actually from a view point on the road all the way to Kantisha. You can hike there (from what our bus driver told us, it was a short walk) from the Wonder Lake stop but then you have to take another bus back. I'm not sure if the bus to Kantisha stops there along the way.

That evening, we ate at the Princess Lodge again since there really wasn't any other place to eat and I have to say I was disappointed with the quality of the food for the prices they charged! But everyone does say that Alaska is expensive!
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Anchorage, Alaska, United States

The next morning we decided to visit the Sea Life Center in Seward which in my opinion was overpriced for the size of the facility - we were done touring through it in about an hour and that was with stops to admire the animals and birds. We then headed out to Exit Glacier, did the 1/2 mile trek to the overlook and then made our way back to Anchorage to catch our flight back to NJ. Alaska was definitely an amazing trip. I can't wait to go back someday and cruise the inside passage and maybe go all the way up to the Artic Circle!
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Seward, Alaska, United States

So our prayers worked and the next day our boat cruise was able to go all the way to Aialik Glacier. Their season was due to end 2 days later but the next 2 days predicted bad weather again so I think we may have been the last cruise to go out for the season (yay!). It was very foggy at first and we did hit some rain showers along the way and the boat was very rocky when we did idle but we got to see some amazing wildlife along the way! Once we finally arrived at the Aialik Glacier, we stood there for a good hour (I think even though I didn't have a watch) just admiring the glacier and watching it as the ice broke off and fell into the water. We then headed back to Fox Island with some detours along the way b/c there were spottings of whales and even dolphins! Ate a delicious salmon bake at the Fox Island before heading back to Seward. The cruise is definitely a must!
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Seward, Alaska, United States

After spending the afternoon at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, we made our way down the Seward Highway to Seward. It's a beautiful drive and I imagine would be a fun train ride as well. We stopped over at the Exit Glacier part of the the Kenai Fjords NP but the office was already closed and it was raining so we decided to just go back to the hotel and then had a nice dinner at Ray's. The hotel staff informed us that the boat cruises to the NP hadn't been going out due to rough weather on the water (they'd been having 12 foot waves!) but the forecast for the next day (when we'd booked our cruise) was calling for a 50% chance of rain and 4ft waves - so we kept our fingers crossed that they would actually go all the way out and not just Resurrecion Bay.
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Girdwood, Alaska, United States

After hiking the Matanuska Glacier, we made our way down south through Anchorage and across the Turnagain arm to spend the night at the Hotel Alyeska. We got there late in the evening so didn't get to enjoy it as much. The weather was overcast so we didnt' take the tram up to get the views. The dinner was okay - nothing compared to the dinner the night before at Copper Center! The next morning we headed out to the Portage Glacier and across the tunnel to Whittier. The plan was to do the Prince William Sound boat cruise but when we crossed the tunnel, the fog was settled in so thickly that it really didn't look like it would be a good time go see anything. Instead we spent about an hour in Whittier, ate at a cafe with an amazing salmon cheese spread and then headed to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center to get some up close views of their animals. There were 3 tour buses that pulled up behind us so the staff at the Center had the 3 bears come up close to the fences which was really great for some close up shots!
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Chickaloon, Alaska, United States

One of the best experiences on our trip was the 3 hr ice falls trek through the MICA guides! It was amazing to actually walk on a glacier instead of just admiring them from a distance.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bkam/16/1213153740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bkam/16/1213153740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bkam/16/1213153740/tpod.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:17:20 -0400 Seattle

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Seattle, Washington, United States

I had to go to Seattle for work for a week. It's a good thing that I was stuck inside a classroom for 11 hours a day because the weather in Seattle was miserable - it rained every single day and the temps were in the 50s. It also didn't help that the conference hotel was an airport hotel which has absolutely nothing around it within walking distance (except a taco bell and a diner).

H came with me for the first few days since he wanted to visit the national parks there, but by the last day he was ready to change his flight and go home early due to the weather.

We got there late on Friday night. On Saturday we drove to Mt Rainier National Park. The drive was a little over an hour. Initially the weather cooperated but as soon as we got to the visitors center, it started downpouring! The mountain itself was under cloud cover and beyond the visitors center the roads were snowed it so we had no choice but to drive back. We didn't get a chance to visit Mt Saint Helens like we'd wanted.

On Sunday we decided to explore downtown Seattle. We were lucky enough to find a street parking spot near Pike Place. We then bascially walked everywhere, from Pioneer Square to Pike Place to the Space Needle. Since it was raining intermittently and the skies were overcast, we didn't bother going up to the top of the Space Needle.

The next day while I was stuck in the conference, H got up bright and early and drove to Olympic National Park but of course the weather made that trip a wash out as well.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bkam/15/1213153260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bkam/15/1213153260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bkam/15/1213153260/tpod.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:03:47 -0400 Yellowstone National Park

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Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, United States

Sunday - We were scheduled to go to GTNP and woke up to snow showers. Also woke up to find out that only the Western Entrance was open due to the overnight snow. But having learned our lesson from earlier in the trip, we decided to wait it out. Had a nice breakfast and by the time we were ready to check out, the South Entrance had opened up again. As soon as we got through the entrance, the sun broke through. We spent the day driving through GTNP and then spent the night at The Wort Hotel which I loved!

Monday - Flew back to Denver and then home.
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