This trip was in the planning for a year, and we finally embarked on July 5, 2017, with the McCully/Cronin family. Each family flew from Seattle to Anchorage and then made our way to the Cruise America rental center where we picked up our RVs. The McCully/Cronin family rented a 25 foot RV to house their family of 3 for 12 days. The Pierson family rented a 30 foot RV to house our family of 4 for the 12 days. We were given directions on how to operate the RV and were on our way.
July 5, 2017-Anchorage to Palmer (44 miles)
1st stop, Fred Meyer for supplies, food, and most importantly beer. This was really a tour of Alaskan beer for the men. After stocking up on supplies, we were on our way to our first stop in Palmer, Alaska to the Big Bear RV Park about 44 miles north of Anchorage. It was a great 1st night with a dinner of sausages. Our first cooking experience in the RV. The RV park had a great view of the mountains. This was our first experience going to sleep in the daylight since it doesn't get dark until almost midnight and gets light again around 3 am.
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| Pierson's 30 foot RV. |
July 6, 2017- Palmer to Denali (209 Miles)
We woke up and headed to Denali via Wasilla and Talkeetna. We started the day by going to Wasilla to shop again at the Fred Meyer for the items we forgot the day before. Of course, Wasilla is the home of Sara Palin. On our way out of Wasilla, we stopped by the Iditarod Headquarters where we watched a great movie about the race. We also were lucky enough to hold two tiny Alaskan Husky puppies, and the girls (Shelby & Fiona) went on a sled dog ride.
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| Sled Dog ride |
After our stop, we headed to Talkeetna, a small Alaskan town that gets pretty overrun with tourists in the summer. We had lunch at an old roadhouse. Today it's a restaurant and a hostel that rents our rooms to many Denali climbers. We had a fun waitress who is from Tennessee. We also walked to the Talkeetna River for our 1st views of Denali. Fiona stuck her feet in the river. The rivers in Alaska are fast running and filled with a lot of silt from the glaciers. The rivers are also braided rivers with many different channels.
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| Original building in Talkeetna |
After lunch, we headed up AK 3 to Denali. We stopped at milepost 135 for an amazing view of Denali. This was a long drive, but the views as we were driving north were amazing. On the way into Denali, a moose was having dinner along the roadside. We rolled into the Denali Rainbow RV Park around dinner time. It's an RV park in a big gravel lot with RVs wall to wall. It's behind a strip mall with a busy restaurant right in front of our RV. We ended up liking the RV park, but it was noisy being behind the restaurant. The pictures below are all inside the RV during our 1st night in Denali.
July 7, 2017-Denali National Park- Wonder Lake Green Bus
Today we took the Green Bus to Wonder Lake, an 11-hour bus trip out and back. There were lots of stops along the way for sightseeing and rest areas. We stopped at Polychrome Point which has amazing peaks across the valley and along the road with a variety of vivid colors. We also saw a ton of wildlife as we drove along: 2 mama grizzly bears, each with 2 cubs, a heard of caribou on a hillside, caribou in the river alongside the road, loons at Wonder Lake, a Jaeger (a bird that nests on the ground), 2 moose, Dall sheep on the hillside. As we were driving into the park, along the road, we saw a mama moose and her baby.
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| Caribou on the side of road |
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| Caribou enjoying the water |
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| Scenery in Denali |
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| Mama bear in the distance |
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| The Green Bus to Wonder Lake |
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| Fiona, Shelby & Nate |
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| Wonder Lake |
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| Scenery in Denali |
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| Denali in the clouds |
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| Denali again |
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| These are really heavy |
It was a long day of riding on the bus, but well worth it. Surprisingly the mosquitoes weren't bad until we got to Wonder Lake. We were going to ride the bus the next day to go hiking around Eilsen visitor center but decided we had had enough of the bus ride in the park. As a Pacific Northwest Girl, Wonder Lake doesn't hold a candle to our alpine lakes in Washington. But we certainly don't have the variety of wildlife that we saw on our trip into Denali.
July 8, 2017- Denali National Park- Hiking Mt. Healy
We didn't have to get up so early today. After a slow morning, we went to the Denali Visitor Center and decided to hike Mt. Healy. It was a steep hike- 2200 feet of elevation gain in 3 miles. The hike led to beautiful views of the surrounding area, but no views of Denali. There is a great rocky area at the top where we did a little recovery and then decided to keep going on the trail a little bit to a higher view point. This was well worth the extra hiking. Every little big of elevation gain led to more amazing views of the area. The trail kept going, but we headed back down. The hike down was steep, and the old knees in the group were a little achy when we finished.
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| We made it to the top, but the trail keeps going ... |
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| View from Mt. Healy |
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| Nate and Fiona at a lookout |
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| Shelby huffing and puffing up the hill, but the views were worth it. |
Afterward, we went to the Denali Sled Dog Demonstration. Well worth it. They bus you out to the kennel in the park. Beforehand, we were able to pet some of the dogs. They were so sweet and excited to meet us. These dogs do a lot of work in the backcountry in the winter since they can't use motorized vehicles off road during the winter. They may haul trash or move trees. They seem to love their work. When they were getting selected to be attached to the sled, the noise in the kennel was amazing. They were letting everyone know that they wanted to work. After the dogs were selected, the ones not chosen went back to sleep.
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| Brother and Sister "play" |
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| The rangers during the demonstration |
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| Enjoying our "beautiful" RV site |
After our day in the park, we headed back to the Rainbow Village RV park for dinner and laundry.
July 9, 2017- Denali National Park to Chena Hot Springs (180 Miles)
Drove to Fairbanks with crazy side winds that blew the RV around the road. Luckily Mark was driving! In Fairbanks, we went to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to check out the campus. Meghan knows a lot of people who work or have worked there, so it was good to actually see the campus. It is a pretty small campus but set up on a hillside and very pretty. We checked out the engineering building since Brian knows someone who works there, but happened to be on sabbatical. Then we went to lunch - terrible service because just about the entire restaurant was staffed by new employees. It took about 1.5 hours for lunch. The saving grace was the nice deck we sat on above a pretty river. We did get 20% off the bill since the whole lunch was screwed up. There were some cute dogs on boats that were beached along the river, so that kept the girls entertained. We also had an eagle friend flying above us during lunch. I left a pretty bad review on Trip Advisor so that made me feel a little better. Then it was off to Fred Meyer for shopping and gas.
We headed out to Chena Hot Springs, an old hot spring resort. The road felt like we were on a roller coaster ride for part of the time, but a pretty drive. We did have to make a quick stop when a mama moose with 2 babies decided to cross the road. Later we saw another moose alongside the road in the marsh. We arrived at Chena and found two nice campsites for our first experience with dry camping (no water or electric hookup). We enjoyed the hot springs which cured our sore bodies from the hike up Mt. Healy. The best part was the very large outdoor hot spring. There was also an indoor pool and three other hot tubs. Chena H.S. has lots of activities available, but everything is pretty expensive. We did enjoy our hot springs soak.
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| Outdoor Hot Spring Pool (adult only) |
July 10, 2017 - Chena Hot Spring to Tulsona Wilderness Campground (312 Miles)
It was raining hard when we woke up. We were sure glad the windows were all closed, and we were warm and cozy inside the RV. As we were leaving Chena H.S., we saw a moose run across the runway. Yes, there is a runway at Chena H.S. and I'm not sure why. On our way, we made a couple of stops. Stop #1 was North Pole, Alaska to take pictures at the post office. We also stopped by Big Delta Historical Park and Rika's Roadhouse. This roadhouse served as a stop on the old Fairbanks to Valdez road. Travelers could resupply at this location as well. It was in service from 1913 to 1947 when the highway was moved to connect with Richardson highway. It was a great stop to learn more about early Alaskan history. We had another bumpy ride to the RV park at Tulsona. We arrived at 4 pm. It is a pretty location along the Tulsona River. This was our 1st really exposure to mosquitoes so far on the trip. The mosquito zappers came in quite handy. Two bundles of firewood, the bugs were gone.
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| Old truck at the roadhouse |
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| Fiona, Shelby & Nate outside the roadhouse |
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| Enjoying the fire and rain |
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| Shelby cooking dinner for everyone |
July 11, 2017 - Tulsona to Seward (287 Miles)
On the way to Seward, we stopped at Matanuska Glacier after driving through some thick fog. We didn't even know if we'd be able to see the glacier, but the fog had cleared so the views were great. The glacier is stable for now (not receding), but there is a lobe which has split off from the main glacier. It's not growing anymore and has vegetation, including trees, growing on it. Some of the trees are at least 200 years old. At this stop, we also learned the aspen trees, which are plentiful in this area, have an underground root system which is all interconnected. We went on a nice 1-mile loop trail with a great view of the river and the glacier. The glacier is currently 27 miles long and 4 miles wide.
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| Matanuska Glacier |
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| Nature trail to see glacier |
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| Walking with eyes closed is so much fun!!! |
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| Turnagain Arm |
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| Denali Lake at Renfro's Resort |
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| Nice setting for an RV park |
We stopped in Palmer and got groceries and gas and then we're on to Seward. We stopped at a beautiful pull off on the Turnagain Arm, also called Beluga Point for the whales that can be seen there. We didn't happen to see any though. Amazing views of the mountains and glaciers as we drove on Seward Highway. We pulled into our home for the next two nights at Renfro's Lakeside Resort on beautiful Kenai Lake. Of course, the RV park wasn't on the lake, but it was still a nice grassy field with great bathrooms.
Quotes of the day:
"My butt hurts." ~Brian
"Alaska Fred Meyer sushi is good."~Shelby (and Fiona agrees)
"Hiking with eyes closed is much more fun than hiking with eyes open." ~Fiona
"Always make sure your water pressure is correct." ~Mark
July 12, 2017 - Seward
Written by Fiona McCully
Today, I, Fiona McCully woke up at 7:45 am. At 8 am we left camp in the Pierson's RV and drove into Seward where we caught a quick shuttle to the Kenai Fjords Cruise. While we waited for the "dang" boat to board, we went and got some pastries at the bakery across the street. Once we boarded, we weren't speedy enough to get the upper deck seats, but we got two tables on the lower level of the boat. Our route took us south, down through Resurrection Bay, around Chat Island, then back north, going up through the western side of Aialik Penninsula. Along the way, we saw a pod of killer whales and babies and multiple humpback whales. We also saw a sea lion rookery- a small island with rocks covered by sea lions. We also saw many caves carved into the walls of islands. It was a beautiful sunny day- very unusual in Seward. We also saw a wall called "the Beehive" covered in gull's nests. We saw many puffins too and learned that sometimes when puffins eat too much food, they get too fat to fly. Finally, we made it to Aialik Glacier. We watched from a quarter of a mile away as the huge wall of ice calved big chunks of ice. Otters swam around cuddling their babies. As we headed back, Nate, Shelby, and I took a big nap but we supposedly saw more orcas. On our way back, we went past Pilot's Rock and into Harding Gateway (named after President Harding). We stopped at Fox Island for a salmon, prime rib, and king crab dinner and then threw and skipped rocks into the water. There were a ton of great skipping rocks at this beach. Back in Seward, we made reservations to see the sled dogs the next day and went on a big unnecessary walk. Nate needs to shower but won't. This is a dilemma.
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| Our ride for the day |
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| Bear Glacier |
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| Orcas of course |
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| Sea lion rookery- they were very noisy |
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| Puffin |
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| Humpback Whale |
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| Shelby & Erica |
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| Shelby & Brian |
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| and Shelby & Dad |
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| Aialik Glacier |
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| Holding a piece of Aialik Glacier |
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| Eating Aialik Glacier |
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| Nap time |
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| Dock at Fox Island |
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| Best buds - poor Shelby in the middle |
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| Best buds |
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| Now we are looking so much more mature. |
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| Cute otter waiting for us at the dock. |
July 13, 2017 - Seward to Homer (168 miles)
We spent the morning at Mitch Seavy's sled dog kennel, Ididaride, off Old Glacier Exit Road. We got to see the dogs in the kennel, take a sled dog ride and hold 6-day old puppies. the sled dogs got a good workout pulling almost 2000 lbs, the cart plus the passengers. They normally pull 300 lbs in the Iditarod race. there are normally 16 dogs pulling the sleds, but when Mitch Seavy won, he actually put 4 of the dogs in the sled to rest and rotated them into the lineup. This kept the speed down and kept the dogs fresher. The dogs eat 2 times a day with dry food and meat, lots of calories. The dog sled ride was worth every penny. Mark and Brian went on a hike in Seward while we were seeing the dogs.
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| They are sleepy until it's ready to go to work. |
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| Their dog houses are the barrels. |
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| Hooked up and ready to go. |
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| 6 day old puppy |
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| Squirmy 2 month old puppy |
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| Aren't I cute!!! |
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| Shelby on Mitch Seavy's sled |
Written by Shelby Pierson
Shelby here. We went on a hike to Exit Glacier after the sled dogs. The beginning of the trail was pretty easy but then it got rocky as we walked up to the glacier. We actually were able to get close enough to touch the glacier. The interesting thing about this glacier is that they had markers on the road and trail indicating how much the glacier has receded in the last 160 years. It's pretty shocking to see the evidence of a warming planet right before your eyes.
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| Glacial Striations |
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| Exit Glacier |
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| It's amazing to touch a real live glacier!!! |
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| Brian & Meghan enjoying a cool minute by the glacier. |
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| RV's are nice for naps. |
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| Lunch!!! |
We drove for a while and had a late lunch at Sacketts Grill. We enjoyed BBQ brisket sandwiches and had delicious cookies afterward. We had a few snacks when we got to Homer, including ice cream, and then went to sleep at our new RV park at the Driftwood Inn.
July 14, 2017 - Homer
Written by Shelby Pierson
We are currently staying at the Driftwood RV park. It's right next to the beach on a bluff. Last night, Nate and Fiona went swimming in the ocean. I didn't want to because it's quite cold. They said it wasn't too bad, but I don't trust them. We had a lazy morning. Mom and I walked down to the Two Sister's Bakery, a local institution. I got a cinnamon roll and hot chocolate. Mom had a scone. We brought back cinnamon rolls for Dad and Nate.
We drove to the Home spit and took a 45-minute ferry ride to Seldovia. It's a little town across the Kachemak Bay, only accessible by boat or plane. We had lunch at the Boardwalk grill after walking the historic boardwalk. I had a rockfish sandwich and seafood chowder. The sandwich was okay but the chowder was delicious. We visited a Russian Orthodox church built in 1891 (I think). Then we took a hike on the OtterBahn trail. It was a pretty hike out to a black rock/sand beach. We only saw a few other hikers along the way. As we walked back to town we saw a cute kitty outside a store! It was orange and sleeping in a box. On the way to town, we passed a boat graveyard with a buttload of abandoned boats. We also visited a small museum with the history of the area and the native tribes. Time to head back to the ferry where I tried not to sleep but was not successful.
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| Seldovia, AK |
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| Lunch Spot |
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| Russian Orthodox Church |
On the way back to the RV, we visited two breweries. To our surprise, the 2nd one had ... OYSTERS!! It was $24 for 18 delicious oysters. They were really good oysters. Probably the best I have ever had. Sooo good and the mignonette sauce was delicious. Quite the deal. Nate and Fiona stayed in the RV because they are lame and don't like oysters. We headed back to the RV park and mom made Reubens for dinner, and they were tasty. Good job mom. Now I'm writing this. Time for some quotes from the day:
"Sea otters rock. " ~Mom (Erica)
"How far is it to Molokai?" ~Dad (Mark)
"These are the most perfect oysters." ~Meghan
"Just saying, we have to go back and get more oysters." ~ Mom (Erica)
"First person to touch their phone pays the bill." ~Fiona
"Oysters are just boogers." ~Nate
That's all for today! We have a really cute dog next to us named Bogey. He is a very chubby Scottie. Shelby Pierson signing off.
July 15, 2017 - Homer
Written by Meghan Cronin
It was a lazy day- though not really a "lazy fluke" or even a "fluke". It was a lazy day because I woke up at 8:45 am and Fiona woke up at 10:30 am. Although the Piersons (not including Nate) got up at 8 am. Nate got up at 9:30 am. Again, Brian went to the bakery and got goodies for today and tomorrow (since the bakery is closed on Sundays). Mark and Erica were 10 people back in the line and the bakery ladies were not smiling. Busy day at the bakery.
Erica and Mark took a walk to the Center for Alaskan Studies. They learned about how the introduction of foxes decimated the local wildlife. "I didn't know that." ~Erica
Brian, Meghan, and Fiona finally gathered themselves together to go explore the neighborhood. They visited a bookstore, a classic used bookstore with piles of books crammed on shelves. Meghan bought "Women of the Gold Rush" which has great stories of real life adventures.
We all piled into the Pierson's RV to head out the Homer Spit for lunch. We snagged an RV parking spot at the "Snag" Fishing lot and then headed out to find the BEST lunch. It was decided that since we would have fish for dinner, wood fired pizza would be best. Yum. We got 3 - 15-inch pizzas which we ate out back on a very nice covered deck. This made for a nice lunch on a foggy day. I scoped out a sweater store and bought a long wool zipped sweater lined with fuzzy material. Very warm. I love it. Brian told me to stop talking about how much I love my sweater.
Mark and Erica bought halibut and salmon for dinner, flash frozen at Cole's Landing. We cooked it on the BBQ at the Driftwood Inn on a nice covered porch. We even splurged for the heat lamp on the porch. Everyone wanted to join our party, including a nice couple from North Carolina who was staying in an RV at the Driftwood.
Now here we are in the Pierson's RV.
Quotes of the day:
"The fish was delicious." ~Shelby
"We needed a down day. I was laying in bed thinking 'My legs are so sore'" ~Brian
There were more quotes, but hard to follow in Meghan's stream of consciousness writing.
July 16, 2017 - Homer to Hope (168 Miles)
We drove from Homer north to Hope today. We stopped for lunch along the Russian River and watched the fishermen/women duke it out with the fish. Beautiful weather. We arrived in Hope around 4 pm to the sunshine. Hope is a beautiful setting, right along the Turnagain Arm. We could see the Seward Hwy across the water. We stayed at the Seaview RV park which is connected to the Seaview Cafe and Bar. This is an old gold mining town. Gold was first discovered in 1888 and by 1896, 3,000 people were living in the area. today, 190 people live in Hope. After the 1964 earthquake, many of the building had to be moved inland to their current locations. The Social Hall (1902) and the Seaview Cafe (1896) are original buildings that were just moved inland. Erica, Mark, and Shelby visited a great museum to learn about the area. They have some original buildings plus the main museum building. There are lots of great artifacts from the early days and a very knowledgeable museum docent. Hope is a very cute town with many historic buildings still in use for business and dwellings.
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| View from campground |
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| Seaview Cafe |
We had dinner at the Seaview Cafe enjoying fish & chips, chowder, and some live music. All the food was delicious and the service was great. It was a very nice evening, so we built a campfire and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Lots of birds, the river, and mudflats. The girls enjoyed meeting all the cute dogs in town. This was a great way to end the RV part of our journey.
July 17, 2017 - Hope to Anchorage (88 Miles)
We woke up early to leave for Anchorage. We had to return the RV filled with gas, dumped of all personal business, and refill the propane tank. We also had to pick up the rental car. After taking care of business, including dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we headed out to the Anchorage Earthquake Park. The bluff of the park fell away during the earthquake in 1964. After that, we visited the Anchorage Museum. This was one of the best museums we have visited in a long time. They had an amazing exhibit on the relationship between Russian and Alaska over the years. There were also interesting native artifacts and modern art.
We checked into the hotel and the kids walked to the movies to see Planet of the Apes. Then we walked to dinner at Moose Tooth Pizza. We had a long wait, but the pizza was delicious.
July 18, 2017 - Anchorage
We were able to sleep in finally. After everyone woke up, we drove about 50 miles back toward Seward on the Turnagain Arm to the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center. They take care of orphaned and injured animals. They have also been instrumental in reintroducing the musk oxen and wood bison to Alaska. We saw lots of animals, but the black bears were the more amazing to see up close.
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| Pretty Bear |
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| Musk Oxen |
After a quick lunch, we headed up the Portage Glacier road where we went for a short hike to Byron Glacier, a hanging glacier. It was a bit rainy, but we were able to walk on a snowfield beneath the glacier. We headed back to Anchorage to get ready for dinner at the Glacier Brewhouse to celebrate Brian's 60th birthday. We had lots of good food and beer. It was a wonderful way to end our Alaskan adventure and celebrate the birthday of our good friend, father, and husband, Brian McCully.
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| Shelby in Icefield |
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| Byron Glacier |
Final thoughts:
An RV is an amazing way to see Alaska. We were protected from the weather, had a place to hang out, didn't have to pack/unpack, a small kitchen to cook in, and a bathroom (very nice in the middle of the night). We also enjoyed meeting the other RV'rs. They are an interesting group of people who are enjoying their retirement seeing amazing sites and meeting a diverse cross-section of Americans.
If we go back to Alaska, I still want to do a flightseeing tour over an icefield and also take a plane to see the bears feeding in Katmai.
Traveling with great friends is the way to take a trip like this. The kids kept each other and us entertained. The adults enjoyed hanging out and just relaxing.
