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It is the end of the second week and we have been to Fairbanks, Talkeetna, Anchorage, Seward and Homer and we are now back in Tok getting ready to start the second part of the trip back through British Columbia to Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and so on. Although we really wanted to experience Alaska, we also wanted to check out some Western states in the lower 48 that we always wanted to visit so that parts begins in the next few days.

In some ways, I feel like we blew through Alaska like you would an ice cream shop, just sampling the many flavors, but I also feel like we chose some of the best and now we want to come back and experience them more thoroughly. Fairbanks is a nice little town and we had originally planned on camping at the Chena Hot Spring Resort because it is one of the best places to view the Aurora. After reviewing the Aurora forecast though, we saw that it wasn’t in our odds to see it so we decided to head South and check out the North Pacific and try to see some critters there.

We spent the day driving from Fairbanks and stopping off in the Denali National Park on the way down. Denali was beautiful and we got a great view of Mt. McKinley, which we hear is not always the case. It stood out all white and snow capped against the bright colors of the fall foliage.

Our next stop was in Talkeetna and this was one of our favorites. Talkeetna is a great little town at the base of Mt McKinley where climbers and others who like to find some adventure in the Denali area often stay. It has one main street and a little campground at the end of the street that cost $10 a night. It takes maybe 10 minutes to walk through the entire town but you will find several art shops, some wonderful places to eat, a great general store, a micro-brewery and more opportunities to find your own adventure than you could imagine. Emily had told me about this little town, as well as many other great things that we saw and did in Alaska, and I’m so thankful that she did. John says it was his favorite part of the trip. The breakfast at the Roadhouse was the perfect thing to send us on our way and to Anchorage and beyond to Seward.

Seward was our destination to take a boat cruise to see wildlife and a glacier up close and personal. We had been really lucky with weather up to this point but that luck ran out a bit as we spent the next few days in rain and cold. The boat cruise started out not too bad weather-wise but they did recommend taking some motion sickness medicine because the water was pretty crazy the further out we got. John and I wanted to brave the upper deck which was not covered because they claim it was the best place to get great photos. We were feeling pretty good about cameras and position on the boat until a guy walked up and pulled out a lens as long as my leg. We discovered that, although it was cool to see the animals with your eye, they often looked like little specks on the photo. I got one of the seals that turned out decent and the Idyllic glacier but that was it. It was still a cool experience though! We saw sea otters rubbing their little bellies and porpoises came over and played with us which was exciting. We even saw a black bear drinking on the bank and then he jumped in a swam across.

After leaving Seward we headed to Homer and I would rate this as our second favorite town in our mad dash through Alaska. Maybe it was because it was a couple of days and nights of resting and relaxing and maybe it was the quirky little shops and restaurants and interesting people there. It is a really eclectic little town with something for everyone. You can go fishing if you like or check out their many art shops and museums. It is known as a place were many people visit and then end up moving there. We actually met a lady that had been there for three years that was originally from Ohio. She was really excited to learn we were from Lexington. We spent  a lot of time walking the beach and looking at the beautiful rocks. I don’t think I have eve seen prettier rocks anywhere. They were so colorful and varied. We even found some sea glass that we brought home as souvenirs. One of my favorite moments was watching a little seal swimming just a little way off the beach. It would dive down and come up with a fish in his mouth and then eat him and find another.

Tonight we made it to Tok and tomorrow we will be heading back into Canada on our way to Whitehorse and beyond. I’m not sure when we will have internet and phone again but we will update when we can!

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